


Just The Same But Brand New

by MagicalMajestys



Series: The Modern Misadventures Of The 104th Squad [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: (oops look how i just added that last tag), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Developing Relationship, Drama, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Love Triangles, M/M, Multi, Other, Romance, eventual jearmin, they are all bffs and huge dorks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-11-26
Packaged: 2018-04-05 05:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 102,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4167681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalMajestys/pseuds/MagicalMajestys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Rule number one:</b> When turning up to a party uninvited, DO NOT let your asshole best friends force you into "designated driver duty." Especially when the only reason you showed up in the first place was to take advantage of Eren Jaeger's stupid self assigned "social etiquette."</p><p><b>Rule number two:</b> If you bump into a pretty blonde boy behind the piece of furniture you are trying to hide behind, do not pursue him, okay? DO NOT PURSUE.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Party

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically a dumb story that was supposed to be a two-shot but ended up being plotted, and this honestly started out as a way to flesh out headcanons so a big sorry in advance for this stupid fluff fest. (aka. the misadventures of the modern 104th squad)
> 
> ((Oh, and the beginning of this fic is set in winter because I started it LAST YEAR but I am continuing now so yep))

It wasn’t exactly unusual for me to be attending a party uninvited.

I just kind of maybe have happened to overhear Eren talking about it with Connie last Sunday- and hey, if Connie was going, I was technically a plus one, right? There was no way Eren was going to ever directly invite me and it wasn’t as if this was the first time I had showed up to one of his little shindigs without an invitation either.

And so forth, as far as house parties go, his were admittedly some of the best. The atmosphere was always pretty relaxed and I recognized most of the people there, all of them really lame, which was a good thing at least. 

The initial plan was to get in, get hammered, snoop around a little bit, and get out. But after being forced into the position of “designated driver” I wasn’t really worried about blending in or anything like that anymore, though my plans of getting smashed were out the window - it just meant I didn’t have to follow Connie and Sasha around all night like a drunk loser and stick to wandering around a single room like last time.

And besides, the place was packed and the music was so loud out it drowned out most of the voices coming from around the house, there was no way in hell Eren would find me when he was up to his ass in drinks and his so called “social etiquette.” Not to mention the fact that it was crowded as fuck - the usually earthy smell of the Jaeger household was almost unrecognizable, tainted with the stench of cheap booze and cigarettes.

“Gross.”

“Hey, man,” Connie said, nudging my arm as we pushed through a group of people and made our way into the kitchen, “Don’t zone out too much, the party hasn’t even started yet.”

“There are too many lights in here,” Sasha added from beside him, “And I know it’s nearly Christmas but I’m pretty sure I tripped over several cords on the way in.”

I hummed in agreement and leaned back against the counter as Connie cracked open a beer, offering me another. I shook my head.

“Driving, remember?” I sighed, “You said you needed a ride.”

“And you said you needed a way in,” Sasha sniped back, “Regretting your decision to come with us already?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that the only reason you wanted to crash this party was to ditch us and get blisteringly drunk.”

“Woah now,” Connie grinned, slipping between the two of us and turning his drink over in his hand, “I thought we all agreed to get equally intoxicated as each other. It’s no biggie, lets just chillax.”

“Then I guess I filled up that water tank for nothing,” she huffed, bending down to rummage through the fridge, “I just wanted to pull a couple of pranks and kick back, ya’ know? Like we did in the good old days _before_ Jean developed an ego.”

“Whatever you say, Sash,” I mumbled back, turning to stare at the bright lights decorating the bars along the ceiling, “I guess everything’s just been kinda shitty lately with the whole moving situation, and the Marco situation and the employment situation, and-”

“Dude, we get it,” Connie interrupted with a loud sigh, wiping the dirt from his shoes against the counter, “There is a lot of shit going on, that’s why we brought you here, well, besides from needing a ride.”

“Yeah,” Sasha added, taking a bite out of a piece of cake she found once she had pulled Eren’s fridge apart, “Maybe just enjoy tonight. We haven’t seen Eren yet either, so things are going in your favour so far-”

“And maybe you’ll meet someone!”

“And fall in love.”

“And have three kids.”

“Only three?” 

“ _Only_ three!?” I spluttered, “Why do you guys wanna marry me off so badly?”

“We didn’t say anything about marriage, Jean,” Sasha rolled her eyes, tacky braces sparkling under the cheap red and green string of lights, “We are just suggesting…”

“…That maybe you should make a _real_ commitment for once,” Connie continued, sipping his beer gingerly, “You’re a grouch, man we get it-!”

I scowled in response, picking up the beer he had offered to me before cracking it open and downing some of the contents. It was disgusting, fuck it. I dunno what else I’d expected.

“It’s just, you know… Maybe we’re getting a teensy bit tired of being your back up plan for nights out.”

“And maybe you could…you know, socialize a little this time,” Sasha added.

“I’d rather talk to a dead fish than make any form of verbal communication with these losers,” I griped, turning over my can similarly to the way Connie had before. Man, this stuff was vile. Now we are going to have to sleep in the car overnight or some shit.

Sasha sighed for what was probably the twentieth time since we left my flat and looked off towards the doorway. She was wearing the same expression she always did when she was ticked off about something, unsurprisingly. It was only after another ten seconds of tense silence that I felt relieved (yes, relieved) to see a mop of messy brown hair emerging through the crowd of people standing around in the living room.

“Thanks for the pep talk, guys,” I said quickly, jumping down from my position on the counter top, “but I’m pretty sure that’s Eren over there and I think he is heading right this way so, uh - stall for me.” 

Connie raised his eyebrows but said nothing, though Sasha was still completely vacant, swinging her legs back and forth from where she sat on the kitchen table. Fucking Eren, the dopey shit still hadn’t seen me yet.

I nudged a startled looking Sasha out of the way and hopped over a chair placed hazardously in the walkway, rushing into the room next door.

A sigh of relief slipped through my lips as I squeezed through the crowd of people blocking the exit and circled my way out into the hallway. It was emptier than I’d thought it would be with everyone crowded in the living room and luckily I had gotten used to the layout of Eren’s house after an uneasy seven years of part aggressive/part friendly rivalry between us - I guess it did come with some perks after all.

I made my way towards a more secluded lounge area, located at the very back of the two storey house, and was relieved to find it moderately quieter without the bass of the music thumping in the background. Though with the loud chattering of other occupants scattered around the doorway, it was still enough to keep me hidden on my mission of seeking out a good hiding place.

The only piece of furniture that deemed large enough to hide behind was a long grey couch lined up across the far end of the room and I was able to slip behind it easily after pushing past the drab curtains blocking the window and into the space between the couch and wall. 

The only thing I didn’t really count on was crashing into someone else on the way in.

“ _Ow--!_ ”

“Shit!” I hissed, clambering off of said occupant before shooting them a harsh glare, “What the hell are you doing back here!?”

“I could be asking you the same question,” he retorted calmly back, brushing his blonde bangs out of his eyes before peering up at me suspiciously. Geez, it’s not like I hit him deliberately or anything.

“I asked you first.”

“Well I was _here_ first,” his lips curving upwards a little as I groaned and rest the back of my head against the couch. Man, I’m sure I’ve seen his face somewhere before.

“I’m hiding.”

“From who?” he piqued, curiosity masking his features pleasantly while I stared back unphased, my eyes narrowing in thought until I felt something click.

“Hey, I know you!” I half whispered, half yelled outright and his eyes widened in what I suspected was disbelief.

“You do?”

“Yeah, you’re Aaron, right? We’ve met before, somewhere…And I think I’ve seen you on Facebook - Wait, no that sounds really creepy. It’s not like I stalk your page or anything like that I just-”

“It’s Armin, actually,” he replied, eyebrows still raised when I turned away from him to stare at the white wall in front of us, “and you’re John, right?”

“It’s Jean, _actually,_ ” I bit back.

He made a small noise in what I could only assume was amusement and I sighed, relaxing back against the couch a bit while he played with his fingers. I could feel the silence becoming awkward after what was probably about thirty seconds of not saying anything and I felt slightly relieved when he started speaking again, cerulean eyes tracing the outline of my face.

“Well, _Jean_. You still haven’t answered my question.”

“And what was your question again?”

“Who are you hiding from?”

I paused. Internally debating whether or not I should answer him. 

I didn’t really know who he was besides his name and the fact that I had seen him somewhere before this whole shindy. But whatever the case, he didn’t look like much of a threat in those hand-me-down jeans and that too-large sweater combo (in actual fact he looked like more of a loser than I was). We were both taking refuge behind a sofa for fucks sake.

“It’s kind of a funny situation,” I sighed, avoiding his eyes when this only seemed to inflame the intensity of his gaze.

“I’m listening.”

“Well, I’m not really supposed to be here, if you really want to know that badly.”

His eyes narrowed, “Right…”

“And showing up uninvited to a party isn’t really the best way to make amends with its host so…”

“I’m hiding from Eren too,” the blonde grinned, resting both elbows on his knees and tucking his hands underneath his chin to stare up at me angelically, “I can’t dance for shit.”

“Gotcha.”

“So about the Facebook thing-”

“Oh my god, please don‘t.”

“Okay, okay,” he said, holding his hands up as a sign of surrender before peeking over the top of the couch and settling back down, “New topic. If we’ve met, why don’t I remember you? I mean, if I had seen that ridiculous haircut once, I don‘t think it‘s something I would have forgotten about.”

I scoffed and rubbed my undercut self consciously, “Hey, hey, this shit is pretty popular with the ladies, alright? And you remembered my name, kind of…” I trailed off, fingers curling around a receipt I found in my pocket as I buried my hands in my jacket for warmth, “That’s something.”

“I guess it is,” he replied, running his hand through his hair from the front, mussing up his fringe and causing strands of wispy, light blonde hair to brush against his cheeks, “What?” 

“Nothing,” I answered quickly, already feeling my face start to heat up from being caught staring. I sighed and stretched my legs out. Well, tried at least, it was getting kind of cramped, “You’re kind of odd.”

“Says the guy hiding behind a sofa.”

“You’re hiding too!”

“Yeah, but at least my reason is actually a good one,” he chuckled, rolling his eyes undoubtedly at my slack-jawed expression, “I can’t believe you showed up to a party you weren’t invited to just to sneak around behind pieces of furniture the whole time.”

“Well excuse me from trying to avoid a death sentence,” I replied humorously, “Eren isn’t exactly a passive guy.”

“Pfft, you’re telling me,” Armin sighed, furrowing his thick eyebrows in thought, “I mean, Eren’s my best friend and all, but I was pretty much dragged here against my will. Mikasa tried to put a stop to it all but alas, it was too late.”

It was my turn to look curious now, “You know Mikasa too?”

“Am I the only one in my group of friends that hasn’t been introduced to you yet?” he grinned, tapping his fingers on the carpet before glancing down again, “Like geez, you showed up out of nowhere, huh.”

“I actually met Eren and Mikasa a long time ago,” I said, drawling out the last part as his eyes flashed enquiringly towards my face once again, “It’s kind of a funny story actually…”

“Do tell.”

“So…you know Annie right? Annie Leonhardt?”

He nodded.

“Well, to set the scene for you, we all met at her thirteenth birthday party and things got kind of messy.”

“Messy how?” he asked, eyebrows raised in confusion.

“Messy as in Eren dumped a whole cake over my head.”

I scowled when I heard him stifle a laugh, “I’m sorry,” he snorted from underneath the hand that was now covering his mouth, “Did I hear you correctly when you said that Eren dumped an entire cake over your head?”

“It wasn’t funny at the time, okay!” I shook my head, tone lighthearted as I tried to conceal my own smile, “We were both twelve and that shit was pretty traumatic!”

“Okay, okay,” he giggled, resting his head back against the couch to match mine, “So how did this whole thing escalate to get to that point?”

“Well, I was just hanging around, minding my own business like a good kid does ya’ know?” he shook his head in disbelief, “and then suddenly I see this smoking hot chick like _woah, man this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, go get her!_ Is what I tell myself in my head-”

He chuckled, eyes fixated on my over the top hand gestures, “Go on…”

“So I go up to her, and this little twerp who looked about a foot shorter than me and had the bushiest eyebrows I’ve ever seen in my life- jumps me! Just as I’m about to lay down my best pick up line. Then he says something like _hey don’t go macking on her with your dirty animal germs, creepazoid, you hear me!_ ”

“Yup, that sounds about right.”

“So we get into this ridiculous fight and things got pretty intense and soon we were over by the buffet table…BOOM, all I can see is a whole lot of pink frosting and Annie fuming across the yard.”

“Oh my god, that sounds like a disaster,” Armin cringed, covering his face with his hands in what was obviously secondhand embarrassment, “and this smoking hot chick just happened to be Mikasa, right?”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” I grinned, turning my head to properly face him, “and thus, a legacy was born! Emerging from behind the frosting like a brave hero should- IT IS I, JEAN KIRSCHSTEIN!”

“Nooo. Shut up you are making me even more embarrassed for you,” he whined, removing hands to reveal his flushed cheeks. Oh man, he’s actually pretty cute.

I sighed, trying to dispel the thoughts of my gangly twelve year old self, “Yeah, I was kind of a loser.” 

“No it’s not that,” he replied, face still slightly pink, “You guys wrecked a birthday party fighting over a girl!”

“And?”

“Well, based on my first impression of you alone, I didn’t really gather that you were the type to get involved in petty fights like that.”

“W-what!? But he started it!”

“Well, yeah but from the way Eren used to speak about you…” he trailed off, blue eyes knowing as he waited for me to react.

“Eren told you about me!?”

“Well it was more like John said this, John did that-”

“It’s Jean! And I thought you said you didn‘t remember me!”

“Oh no, it‘s all coming back now… I just couldn‘t put the name to a face,” he hummed, pink lips still curved upwards in a way I could only really describe as mischievous, “You‘re the boy I thought he had a crush on.”

“What!?” I exclaimed. Jaeger? Seriously? “Nah…really!?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Armin’s smile was soft this time. He shuffled sideways and stood up from his position on the carpet, nudging me with his shoe, “Well, thought. Past tense. You know, I better get going. And it’s probably kind of late for this but…”

“But…?”

“Well, if you wanna ever hang out sometime or whatever,” he mumbled, swaying bashfully as he tried to think of what to say next, “you can ask Eren or Mikasa for my number and send me a text or something…”

He climbed over the couch, perching on the other side for a second to await my reply, “Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah that would be cool- like to hang out, I mean,” I answered back, stumbling over my words when his ocean coloured irises met my dull brown ones.

“Awesome,” he breathed, eyes flickering over my face for a second before rising again to meet my gaze.

“Awesome,” I affirmed.

“Hey, Armin! What the heck are you doing back here?”

I groaned sinking lower in my position behind the couch. What impeccable timing. Of course that fuckwit Jaeger just had to show up.

“Oh, I was just getting acquainted with your friend Jean over here,” I heard Armin reply, tone laced with innocence, “You know, the one you never introduced me to.”

I jumped as the couch shifted suddenly, making me fall back onto my elbows as I proceeded to stare death in the face. Well, if death was sent to me in the form of an angry, eyeliner-wearing, nineteen year old, that is.

“Get the fuck out of my house.”

“Aww man,” I whined, feeling the corners of my lips pull into a smirk as Eren grew more and more agitated, “I was just starting to get comfortable.”

“Well go get comfortable somewhere else!” he snarled back, nails digging into the fabric of his vomit green hoodie in order to maintain that gloriously thought out “social etiquette” of his.

I sighed and reluctantly stood up, not being able to stop myself from raising an eyebrow at how small Armin was in comparison to the both of us. He also looked relatively cleaner, not that I was a total slob but Eren on the other hand, yikes.

“Thanks.”

“For what?” Armin asked seriously.

“Uh, for ratting me out?” I answered, or rather, questioned, “Kind of thought you were on my side.”

“Well,” he replied, lips upturning slightly when he spoke, “I’m sorry to be a disappointment.”

I stared at him for a couple of seconds longer, unsure about whether he was joking or not. He was seriously pretty for a dude, not that I hadn’t noticed beforehand but, damn…

“Nah,” Eren interrupted after a few seconds of silence, “this guy is just a huge jerk.”

“I know you are but what am I?”

“Wow, congratulations. You are an actual seven year old.”

“Eren,” Armin sighed, “I know this sounds stupid but it’s probably getting late and I’m really tired so I’m just gonna head home.”

“What-! No, no, Armin!” Eren, replied, grabbing his shoulders to hold him in place, “The party is just getting started!”

Armin frowned and shuffled his feet apologetically, “Yeah, but I’ve still got a project I haven’t finished yet and you know this isn’t really my scene so…”

Eren stood in place for a couple of seconds longer before sighing in defeat. He let go of Armin who immediately perked up and walked off towards the door, “I’ll see you later, okay?” he said, before slipping out into the hallway.

Eren nodded reluctantly and turned to face me again.

I heard a faint “Goodbye Jean,” but that still didn’t exactly quell my annoyance of being found out. Eren was still staring at me, not saying anything.

“So…”

“Ugh, shut it, horseface,” he groaned, rubbing his eyes before spreading his fingers apart to peek out at me from behind his hands, “You staying or what?”

“Yeah, I could use some alcohol,” I replied, stuffing my hands into my pockets and glancing around the now very empty room, “Is Mikasa here?”

Eren huffed in annoyance, “Why do you wanna know?”

“She is a good drinking buddy.”

He rolled his eyes and pushed me towards the door, “You are a real ass you know that, right?”

“Yeah but you still love me.”

“Nope.”

“Yesss, you do,” I sang, turning my head to face him, only to see that his slightly pissed off expression had yet to wear off.

“I’m aro, remember,” he snorted, letting go of me once we had both entered the kitchen, “Besides, the only person who could love a face like yours is your mother.”

I waggled my tongue at him in response and went back to lean beside the counter, finding the spot where I had been previously when Connie and Sasha were around. Speaking of which, where the hell were those two dickbags, it should be in the bro code to stall the host when a fellow bro shows up to a party uninvited. That shit should be law even!

“And hey,” Eren continued, opening the cupboards lining the room in search for something edible, “Now that you’ve met Armin, don’t go macking on him either, you hear me?”

“Don’t waste your time, you know I’m not into guys,” I replied, deserting my spot on the counter to look through the fridge, finding a beer and cracking it open before settling back again.

“I don’t care what you’re into,” he said bluntly, his heavily lined, green eyes narrowing as he pulled a bag of crisps down from the shelf above his head, “You even look at him funny…”

He made a couple of chopping motions with his hands and I raised an eyebrow.

“What the hell is that supposed to be?”

“That’s me!” he spluttered, “Kicking your ass!”

I choked on my drink before breaking into bouts of laughter, ignoring Eren’s protests, even when he tried stepping on my shoes. I was only interrupted however, by the sound of cheering coming from the living room next door. We both turned and tried to peer through the door frame at the same time, only to knock our heads together accidentally in the process.

Eren was the first one to recover and start pushing through the crowd while I followed behind him in confusion, trying to mind my own business (but you know, not really because I‘m nosey as hell).

“What the fuck is going on!?”

“Oh man,” I snickered, patting Eren on the shoulder, “You guys did have my back after all!”

“What do you think I filled the water tank up for, dumbass?” Sasha grinned before slipping in the large puddle of water on the grand marble flooring.

I shrugged.

There were empty plastic cups placed throughout the hallway, taking up any available space and filled to the brim with water. Furniture like the TV and stereo (still on full blast) were placed somewhere high up and the rest of the tank had been more or less spilled all over the living room floor, resulting in many people laughing and sliding across the room on their asses like a makeshift slip-n-slide.

“Mikasa!” Eren yelled, trying to maintain his balance as he stepped past masses of people splashing around along the ground, “I thought you were monitoring everyone!”

“I was but this is really fun, sorry,” the raven-haired girl replied, sliding backwards on her hands before launching herself forward through the crowd.

People cheered again and Eren groaned.

“Guys, you kind of left me hanging there,” I said, fist bumping both Connie and Sasha as they stood up off of the ground while Eren skidded across the room, hanging onto any piece of furniture that had been strewn across the living room, “What took you so long?”

“Yeah well, it was kind of hard blocking off the hallway and herding everyone in here for the main event,” Connie replied, “Mikasa and Annie were stubborn as hell.”

“I think everyone is having fun now though,” Sasha added, putting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the room, “This was a pretty good idea.”

Well I couldn’t disagree with that.

“Yeah, so come on, Jeannyboy!” Connie grinned, tugging me towards the hard floor with Sasha in tow, “Let’s race.”

I reluctantly sat down. Ugh, man these jeans were expensive as hell, when I decided to come out tonight I didn’t think I’d be leaving with wet stains on my ass.

“Hey,” I called to them over the shrieking in background, “You guys know someone called Armin? Blonde, kind of small but ehh, not smaller than Connie-”

“Hey-!”

“Uh, I don’t think so,” Sasha answered thoughtfully before knocking my side playfully, “Why, did she reject your ass too?”

“Armin’s a dude, okay,” I sniped back lightheartedly, “and I was just wondering since we had a bunch of mutual friends so…”

“So you did take our advice after all,” Connie grinned, sliding back and forth along the ground. 

I mumbled a quick “whatever,” in response as we all slid back to sit against the wall. How did I became friends with these assholes in the first place? They didn’t even give me a heads up about the stupid water tank shit until I drove them here, geez. 

On the count of three, we all launched ourselves off across the room. I could still feel the water soaking through my jeans but I put up with it for the cause. It didn’t exactly take long for us to skid in the wrong direction and Sasha grabbed onto both of our wrists from either side, squealing loudly as she collided into the couch, with Connie and I in tow.

“Fucking- ow,” I groaned rubbing my forehead, shit, “Everything is spinning.”

“Ow yourself,” Sasha replied, wearily, “I got the brunt of that, you asshat.”

“It’s not my fault you grabbed onto us with your bloody wench claws!”

Sasha whined and stood up, using my shoulder for leverage when she stumbled the first few times. Connie on the other hand, pulled himself up using the couch, offering out his hand out to me when I made no move to get up. I brushed him off and tried to push myself off of the ground, only to slip and fall onto my back, and fuck did that hurt.

I groaned, trying to shut out the screaming and thumping of the bass in the background. Ugh, if I thought I was dizzy before, this was equivalent to freaking children’s merry-go-round level.

“Oh my god, are you okay?”

Fuck. Why universe, why!? I could feel my face burn in embarrassment as I looked up and was met with Armin’s concerned gaze.

“What are you doing back here?”

“I uh, left my bag…um…” he said, lips thinning in obvious thought before he offered out his hand, “here.”

I took it and let him help me up, ignoring Connie’s loud scoff from his seat on the couch. I could practically feel Sasha’s laughter inside my head before I heard it, I immediately turned to stare her down but it did nothing if not fuel her into further hysterics.

“O-oh my g-g-od!” she snickered into her hand, “Man, you sure are a pretty little thing aren’t you!? I’m sure Jean would just eat you u-up! Hahaha-”

“Shut up!”

“I-its okay,” Armin said, ducking his head away from us and fiddling with his fingers, “I was just on my way back out and I wanted to see what the commotion was about.”

“N-no!” I responded hastily, “Uh, we didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable we are just playing around. She‘s drunk as fuck!”

“Yeah,” Sasha added, finally cooling off as she fanned her hand against her face to ward off the redness in her cheeks, “Sorry.”

Connie finally looked up, taking in Armin’s appearance for a second before glancing up at me with a smug look on his face. Asshole.

“We were thinking of heading down to McDonalds later,” he said, green eyes darting back towards the blond, “Wanna come?”

“That sounds fun but I can’t,” Armin sighed, “I’ve got a history project I’m working on tomorrow so I gotta go home and catch up on sleep while I still can.”

“Right- oh wait, didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Armin.”

“Cute.”

“Agh, yeah we get it guys! Armin is adorable,” I interrupted, narrowing my eyes at Connie as a warning, “But yeah, it’s getting kind of late so maybe you should start heading home.”

“Yeah…” he smiled, the corners of his lips upturning as he pulled on the strap of his satchel, “I’ll see you, maybe.”

He made his way towards the doorway slowly, clutching random pieces of furniture the whole time to avoid slipping over unlike my stupid ass. 

It was actually kind of dorky.

He waved to us before he left and we all returned it, Sasha more enthusiastically than Connie and I but nether the less, it was still appreciated. I pulled at my bottom lip with my fingers for a few seconds after he left, shaming myself internally for feeling the urge to smile. When the hell did I start getting so sappy? I was supposed to be the grouch.

“Hey Jean?” Sasha squeaked from beside me, clutching onto my arm as she peered back out towards the now empty hallway.

“What, Sash?”

“I know this is kinda off topic but if you’re still up for having three kids, there is always adoption.”


	2. It's Leonardo Like The Turtle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean is a chair-less loser and Armin is a cute dork.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna try and regularly update this fic!! I am hyped up on ice cream and junk right now though so I'm sorry if this chapter does not make any sense.

In all honesty, if I knew moving out would be this exhausting I don’t think I would have bothered in the first place.

I had called Sasha, Connie, Mikasa, and Eren round to my new apartment to help me get my ass into gear but that hadn’t turned out as great a plan as I’d expected.

First off, Sasha showed up over two hours late with no plausible excuse other than, “I stopped on the way here to get a burger,” and without even having the audacity to even send a text, because is that really so fucking hard? And then Eren doesn’t bother showing up at all. That, I probably should have expected.

“What was the point of saying he was gonna show if he doesn’t even fucking commit!?” I growled, pressing my head harder against the large cardboard box on the tabletop. The stupid asshole obviously thought he was better than this.

I groaned miserably, flinching a little when I felt a set of perfectly manicured nails dig gently into my shoulder.

“He texted me earlier this morning that he needed to go shopping last minute,” Mikasa replied from somewhere behind me, “He rushed out of the house before I woke up, he should be back by now.”

“Then why isn’t he!?” I snapped back, lifting my head up to meet her blank expression, “Did you text him back?”

Mikasa removed her hand and delved into her pocket to pull out her phone, waving it in front of my face.

“Twice. I called him a couple of times too.”

“And?”

“He didn‘t answer.”

I made another unintelligible sound and buried my head back against the box.

There was still so much stuff to unload, even with three extra pairs of hands around to help. Well, not that Connie and Sasha were much help at all. They were probably just goofing off somewhere or messing around with my stuff.

“Hey,” Mikasa continued, brushing my hair back so she could look me in the eye, “Don’t stress. We can figure this out.”

“You’ve said that like six times already,” I grumbled back, pushing myself up until I was towering over her again, “I dunno how all this,” I gestured about the room, “is supposed to work.”

“Well, your stuff only got here today so…” she trailed off thoughtfully, “Maybe we can just get all the essentials out of the way and work on the smaller stuff later.”

Good ol’ Mikasa. Always the voice of reason.

There was a loud bang from somewhere inside and Sasha ran out of the bathroom, squealing and giggling like a small child - a small child that was wrapped from head to toe in what appeared to be my shower curtains.

“Mikasa! Mikasa - look!” she grinned, “It’s like a blanket! Maybe Jean can use this when he’s freezing to death in the cold tonight!”

“Good plan,” Connie said, poking his bald head around the door frame, “Oh! And maybe he can use these-” he pulled out a couple of sponges from behind his back, “as pillows!”

So that's where they'd been for the past twenty minutes.

“Or,” I hummed, making my way over to them before raising my voice, “I could just use real blankets and pillows like a normal fucking person!”

Sasha recoiled and wrapped her arms around the sheet of plastic with a frown, “We are just playing around. You don’t have to be so mean.”

“Yeah, but look, Sash,” I replied, pointing to the dark folds beneath my eyes, “I am ageing overnight with all this shit going on.”

“Why don’t we start unloading the heavier furniture first!?” Mikasa called to us from across the room as she dumped two boxes onto the counter, “Then after that’s done we can go through the smaller boxes and find blankets and stuff, okay?”

The three of us nodded to each other in agreement and got to work setting up my bedroom and then the kitchen. I’d woken up at 5AM for this shit when I heard that my storage was finally being delivered. Sure, this was a pain in the ass but I don’t think I could keep jumping back and forth from Connie’s place to this shithole any longer than necessary.

Not that staying with Connie wasn’t fun but the guy pees with the toilet seat down for fucks sake, what the hell was I supposed to do!?

“Umm, Jean.”

“Yeah, Sash!?” I yelled back from the bedroom as I placed another box on top of my mattress-less bed.

There was no reply so I stepped out of the small room, only to be met with three slightly worried expressions.

“What?”

“Jeannn,” Sasha whined, “we’ve been looking everywhere but there are no chairs!”

What the fuck?

“You are joking,” I asked hesitantly, watching the way Mikasa’s lips thinned in concern, “right?”

Mikasa sighed, “I wish we were. It’s only noon though so you could either call your storage company now and wait another week or-”

“We could run down to the ikea in the mall and get some cheap ones,” Connie finished, “Your move.”

I groaned into my hands. This day so far has been a fucking nightmare. It was like I’d been cursed.

“No, you know what?” I grumbled, kicking a stray box on the way to grab my jacket and keys off of the counter, “You guys stay here and unpack the rest of the stuff and I’ll go to the mall.”

“You sure?” Mikasa said, rubbing her arms over the sleeves of her tunic, “Give me a call if you need help.”

I nodded and head towards the front door, “Likewise.”

I slammed the door behind me, sighing loudly as I stepped out into the hallway. At least quality wasn’t going to be a huge issue since I was only going to need cheap ass chairs for a little over a week.

I pulled out my phone and rung up the storage company as I made my way to my car. They said that it would take another seven days for delivery and that it would cost me a little bit extra this time around. I felt too tired to argue so I just agreed and hung up, pulling the keys out of my pocket as I made my way towards the small vehicle and unlocked the doors.

I resisted the incredibly strong urge to hit my head against the steering wheel in irritation and instead, shoved my keys into the ignition and screwed my eyes shut. Sitting there in frustration for a few seconds longer than usual before actually putting the damn thing into drive.

\----------------------------

Ikea was like the wonderland of all things brightly coloured and hard to put together.

I tried not to let myself get distracted and looked past the shelves of boxes and containers, all filled with random junk I wanted to buy but didn’t really need. Ugh, why was shopping so hard. Maybe I should have brought Mikasa along after all, she would have probably been done in ten minutes, tops.

After looking through a bunch of different categories, I settled on buying the cheapest plastic chairs I could find. They weren’t exactly the greatest quality but they were most likely good enough for now until I got my furniture back.

I left the store feeling slightly better about myself. Maybe I was cut out for this after all. I handled this disaster like an adult, right? Right.

I grabbed a trolley for my stuff but paused before I could push it into the car park. Eyes narrowing at the familiar sight of wispy, blonde hair, tucked neatly underneath a blue, knitted bobble hat.

“Armin?”

He turned, blue eyes sparkling as he put his phone away and stepped across the path towards me.

“Jean.”

“Hi.”

“Hello.”

“Uh…” I scratched the back of my neck. Why the hell did I call him over if I had nothing to say? Get it together, Jean.

He looked different in daylight. His hair was a lot lighter than I had remembered and his lips were a lot fuller. I caught his eye again and he frowned a little, reaching up to pull his hat further over his ears in a way that almost looked self conscious.

“It’s been two weeks,” Armin said, breaking the silence. His skin was pale from the cold and his cheeks and nose were somewhat redder than they had been on night of the party, “And you didn’t text me or anything so…”

I blinked in confusion.

“I kind of assumed you didn’t really want to uh, get to know me or whatever-”

“N-no! No! That’s not it,” I cut him off, stupidly reaching out for a second before pulling back and shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans. Fuck, I am a huge idiot, “Um. I do want to get to know you I was just, you know-”

“It’s perfectly okay if you don’t-”

“No! I - I do!” I snapped back.

He let out a short huff in amusement, a trail of mist leaving his lips into the cold air as he dug his gloved fingers into the pockets of his coat, “Okay.”

“I was just gonna, um,” I gestured towards the trolley holding several thin boxes of plastic chairs, “but afterwards do you wanna go grab a coffee or something? I mean I know we are almost complete strangers but I want to uh, make it up to you for not giving you a call.”

His eyes flicked away from my face for a second as he thought about it.

Please say yes, please say yes.

He nodded and I couldn’t stop myself from grinning.

“Awesome.”

“Awesome,” he shrugged, biting his lip when a small smile crept it’s way onto his face, “So, what’s in the boxes anyway?”

He gestured towards my trolley and I hesitated for a second, grabbing it by the handle as we silently agreed to walk back to my car.

“There was a shortage of chairs.”

He looked up at me, completely clueless, “How?”

“Well, my storage came today for my new place and for some reason they withheld all of my chairs. So right now I am chair-less.”

Armin let out a small snort, immediately reaching up to cover his mouth with his hands.

“Your laugh is really weird, you know,” I said shortly. Well, that just slipped out.

“And you’re really rude and blunt,” he replied, completely unphased. Guess he must hear that a lot, “Oh, and before we go, I’ve gotta text Eren, we came here together and I don’t really wanna leave him behind without his say so.”

I stopped lifting boxes into my car.

“Did you just say Eren?” I asked slowly, “Eren as in Eren fucking Jaeger?”

He nodded hesitantly, unsure of how to reply.

“That sly son of a bitch!” I cursed. Internally screaming at myself to get a grip, “He was supposed to help me unpack this morning!”

“Oh!” Armin looked startled for a second before his expression changed into something akin to guilt, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”

I scowled and let out a long sigh, watching the way smoke left my mouth and evaporated into the cold air;

Ugh, no, Jean don’t give in, “I’m sorry,” Stop right now, “Don’t worry about it, it’s not even your fault.” _Loser,_ “What were you shopping for anyway?”

Armin perked up quickly and raised the plastic bags he was holding up for me to see.

“I got some new books.”

Fuck, stop looking at me like that.

“But that was a little while ago, we were going to leave but Eren said he needed to go to hot topic and get some nail polish or something…”

He trailed off, pulling his phone out of his pocket to send a text, only to furrow his brows in confusion. 

“Eren ditched me.”

“What?” I leaned over his shoulder to look at his screen. And yeah, that was kind of a nosey thing to do but this was Eren we were talking about. Typical.

“He said he met some girl and they are going for milkshakes.”

“I thought Eren was aromantic.”

Armin shrugged, “Well, he didn’t say it was a date, just milkshakes apparently.”

It was still weird as fuck but I didn’t say anything else. Instead opting to finish packing the boxes into the boot of my car before going to put the trolley away with Armin in tow.

At least this meant that I’d have more time to spend with him without Jaeger fucking things up. I sent a quick text to Mikasa, telling her I’d be back late.

Armin had taken off his gloves and was now tapping away at his phone again, most likely sending Eren a reply. We were going to leave him anyway so I don’t see why it mattered so much now that it was the other way around. Well, besides from the fact that he was going on a not-date with some mysterious girl he just met, it wasn’t that far fetched. 

Eren did strange shit all the time.

“You do know you were going to ditch him too, right…?”

He slipped his phone away and laced his fingers together, cheeks still tinged red. My own face was starting to sting from the cold and I rubbed my hands together to ward it off, the sound making him wince.

“Yeah,” Armin huffed, “Yeah, I know and now I feel like a terrible friend.”

“Well…” I trailed off, holding the door open for him as we walked back inside the mall, “You can’t be that terrible if he did the same to you.”

He pouted a little but nodded anyhow.

“Besides,” I continued, “If you’d been waiting out there any longer I think you would’ve turned into the equivalent of a human popsicle.”

That comment was rewarded with at least a small grin from Armin and I instantly felt proud of myself. Hell yeah, you’ve still got it, Kirschstein.

We walked around inside for a little while, chatting with such ease that even I forgot that we were practically strangers. It helped that I knew the mall almost inside out - Connie had worked at the McDonalds in the food court part time back in high school so it wasn’t exactly hard to remember the layout.

Armin commented on every few shops we passed and it was actually pretty endearing. His nose would scrunch up a little in distaste if he saw something stupid or his lips would thin contentedly into a small smile when he saw something he liked.

“You know, I always wanted to go to build-a-bear when I was a little kid,” he said as we passed it on the corner, “I remember one time when I was younger, Mikasa’s uncle took her shopping and she came back with a really zealous looking pink teddy dressed as a pirate. She absolutely adored it.”

“Did you ever get to go?” I asked, looking back over my shoulder to where people were entering the large store.

“Nah,” he smiled sadly, “My dad said it would just turn into extra clutter lying around, plus we couldn‘t really afford it at the time so there was also that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I didn’t have many toys growing up,” he sighed, “figures.”

I paused, grabbing him by the sleeve and stepping backwards so I could face the store properly again. 

He looked puzzled, eyes flickering between both me and the marginally crowded shop, “Jean?”

“We’re going inside.”

“What!?” he exclaimed, pulling away from me when he finally understood my intentions, “No, oh my god - there are a bunch of little kids in there, Jean! I’m eighteen years old for Christ’s sake!”

“But you wanted a bear, right?”

He shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets, shyly staring up at the large yellow logo across the front of the entrance. It wasn’t exactly difficult to see how much he wanted to go in.

“Then screw coffee, let’s go get you one,” I said, dragging him by the arm as I unashamedly marched into the store.

I didn’t even have to look at him to know how red his face was.

We looked around at the stuffed animals for a while until Armin had calmed down enough to go choose what he wanted, heading over to a stand that was lined with boxes and boxes of very empty looking teddy bears.

“What colour do you want?” I asked, watching contentedly as Armin rummaged around the boxes, fingers delicately stroking the soft looking fur of each toy.

“I’m not sure,” he hummed in return, standing back for a second as he surveyed the store.

He gasped and leapt towards one of the boxes, pulling out a fluffy brown bear.

“Oh my god, this one is so cute!”

I grinned when he held it up to show me, cheeks still bright pink but face plastered with a large smile.

“Looks pretty alright to me,” I said, ducking down a little to get a closer look at it, “You wanna go fill it up?”

He nodded, clutching it to his chest as he practically skipped over to the line where the stuffing machine was located. He looked so happy I could’ve sworn he was about to burst, face still flushed and blonde hair poking out a little from underneath his hat.

I followed at my own pace, still taking in my surroundings. What the hell possessed me into bringing him here in the first place. He was already talking to the girl sitting beside the machine by the time I made my way over to stand beside him, feeling wary at the way her eyes widened towards me before flickering back to Armin.

Armin made small talk with the girl while we waited for the bear to be filled up, my own attention on the other hand, was still drawn towards the rest of the store - god, who even designed the layout for this place, yeesh. I ran my hand through my hair sluggishly and the lady jumped in her seat, opting to tap her fingers along the metal bar attached to the machine.

“-You two make such a cute couple,” she said, handing the small plastic heart to Armin who finally seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in.

“O-oh,” he mumbled, shaking his head, “We aren’t together, this is actually the second time we’ve met. It was pure coincidence, really.”

The girl raised her eyebrows, eyes flickering over to me again while Armin fiddled with the plastic heart, “So you’re single then?”

Armin hummed a yes and I shrugged, disinterested. What was this, twenty one questions? Were build-a-bear employees always this nosey?

For a second she didn’t say anything but held out her hand for the heart and Armin complied.

“So what about you?” she asked me, biting her lip as she stuck the heart inside to join the stuffing.

“What about me?” I grumbled back, legitimately confused by what she was asking. 

“I think he‘s already with someone,” Armin cut in, taking the bear from the stunned girl once she had finished securing the back, “Jean?”

I glanced down at him for a second, the corners of his lips were still upturned into that sickeningly sweet smile. God, this guy could be selling something gross like oatmeal and I would still buy it.

“Yeah,” I replied quickly, still not very engaged in the conversation but more or less focused on Armin’s expression. He exchanged a few more words with the girl but she didn’t look as cheery as she had before.

She opened her mouth to say something else but Armin grabbed the sleeve of my jacket and quickly pulled me away towards another part of the store filled with rows and rows of tiny clothes.

“Is this what hell looks like?”

“Shut up,” Armin grinned, bending down to peer at the label on one of the shirts, “You’re the one who dragged me here in the first place.”

“Yeah,” I replied, smiling back at him as he continued to rifle through some of the clothing racks, “But it was for your benefit.”

He shrugged, still clutching the bear to his chest as he picked out a dress on one of the hangers and matching pair of shoes to go with it, “Perfect.”

“You wanna get an ID thingy for your bear?” I asked after he’d dressed it. He shrugged, “Oh, come on.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, frowning a little when some of the colour returned to his cheeks, “But don’t watch, okay. It’s embarrassing!”

“That’s fine by me,” I replied, glancing back around the store as he keyed in his information at the computer.

“What did you name them?” I smirked, when he returned from his seat, face fully flushed pink.

“None of your business.”

“Aww, what,” I whined, grinning when he tried to hide his blush, “Tell me.”

“Leonardo.”

I burst out laughing and he shot me a dirty look.

“What like Da Vinci or Dicaprio?”

“Maybe both,” he snapped back defensively, sticking his tongue out at me, “But maybe he is a teenage mutant ninja turtle. What’s it to you?”

I launched into another fit of laughter, this time attracting the attention of the other shoppers around us. He looked even more embarrassed and I immediately felt bad, trying my best to calm down.

“Don’t make me feel like more of a loser than I already am, Jean,” he said, hugging the toy fiercely as we made our way to the check out, “I’m a legal adult. I can sue.”

I put my hands up in surrender and he giggled this time, placing it on the counter. The bored looking woman behind it scanned the tag and placed it in a bag, thankfully making no attempt of starting a conversation. Armin was also quiet when he received the bag and I pulled out my wallet just as he reached into his pocket.

“Woah,” he said, grabbing my wrist to keep me from pulling out my card, “There is no way you are paying for all this.”

“I said it was on me didn’t I?” I replied, ignoring his protests by unlatching his fingers from my arm and inserting my card into the credit card reader.

He pouted a little in defeat but didn’t say anything else, accepting the bag and placing it with the others on his arm. When we’d finally made our way out of the store and he immediately perked up.

“Thank you,” he said, smiling warmly up at me when we started walking again, “You barely even know me and just, you didn‘t have to do that. I‘ll make sure to pay you back.”

I bit my lip to prevent the grin threatening to spread across my face, “Don’t worry about it.”

“I can’t help but worry though,” he chuckled before looking back down at the ground, “Why would you do something like that for me?”

I shrugged. That was a good question and he was right, we barely even knew each other. We were just the friends of other mutual friends that didn’t happen to meet until, well until now, really.

“Well…” I finally replied, “I guess I just kind of wanted to get to know you.”

He gazed back up at me in shock. His ocean colored eyes practically burning into mine. I gulped and stared right back, challenging him to come up with another excuse. 

But he didn’t. The default ring tone of his phone sounded and he averted his gaze, pulling the device out of his pocket. Perfect timing.

“It’s Eren,” he sighed, “I’ve gotta take this.”

I nodded and he pressed the phone to his ear, “Hello.”

There was a shriek so loud from the other line that even I could hear it, making Armin tug the phone away from his ear in shock.

“Oh my god, Eren! You nearly gave me a heart attack…what the hell was that for?”

I raised an eyebrow and he shrugged in return, frowning at something Eren had said, “No, Eren! You can’t bring her over…Well, first off I don’t know her- you met her in hot topic for crying out loud!”

I snickered. Was this the type of shit Armin had to put up with on a day to day basis? 

Eren Jaeger really was a wild card.

“Please listen to me! What do you mean - Jean is right here!”

“What?” I said, stepping closer to him in order to hear the conversation. If my name was coming up I definitely had a right to know what the hell was going on.

“Well, I was supposed to go to his flat anyway,” came Eren’s muffled reply, “So I’ll just bring her with me.”

“Why…?” I whined, “God, why me!?”

“Is that horseface!? Armin - I’m already on the way there now.”

Eren hung up without even saying a goodbye and Armin stood staring at the ground for a couple of seconds in thought.

“You wanna come back to mine?” I asked as we headed out of the exit and back into icy hell, “I mean, it is probably still a chair-less shithole right now but once we get this crap out of the boot it will only be a shithole.”

He nodded and followed me to my car in silence. He was probably still bothered about Eren bringing a complete stranger back. And I know Armin and I were still technically strangers but we’ve met each other twice. And we have friends that know each other so us meeting would’ve been inevitable! 

Plus, it was my flat! What the hell goes on in Eren’s tiny brain half the time, I will never know.

I jumped into the driver’s seat while Armin stepped into my car cautiously, slipping into the passenger’s seat and buckling his seat belt immediately. Why did he look so tense all of a sudden?

“I don’t bite, seriously,” I said, making him jump, “Really, don’t look so freaked out.”

“S-sorry,” he mumbled, wringing his hands nervously, “I just feel like I’m intruding.”

“Nah, you’re fine.”

He smiled and gave a short nod, burying his face into the warmth of his coat as I started the ignition.

The drive back was slightly uncomfortable but I chalked it up to being together in a confined space for the first time. I mean, there was the couch at the party but this time the atmosphere felt different. It was definitely more awkward this time around and I felt grateful that Armin hadn’t tried to make any sort of conversation.

He was a lot more reserved than I had originally thought. My first impression of him was that he would be talkative - alternatively he was kind of a dweeb, and actually pretty polite now I thought about it.

“Don’t worry about the boxes,” I said after parking and climbing out of the driver’s side, “Mikasa’s here so she’ll help us bring them up.”

He nodded and grabbed his bags off of the seat, “Cool.”

We had to take the stairs up to my flat because the stupid lift was still broken (and I was pretty sure that thing had a wasp nest in it or something).

“I’m really sorry about this,” Armin said when we got to my door, “I didn’t think Eren would just bring someone back.”

“That’s on him,” I grunted, fishing my keys out of my back pocket and unlocking the door.

The first sight we were met with was Sasha lying on the floor in front of the doorway and she grabbed my leg as I stepped inside. Armin remained outside my door, probably freaked the fuck out by Sasha‘s weird antics. Was it a bad thing that I was used to this kind of behaviour? Most likely.

“Jeann,” she whined, “I am so embarrassed.”

“What?” I grumbled, trying to shake her off to let Armin inside but Sasha didn’t budge, “Why?”

“Because I am not worthy, Jean!” she cried, fake sobbing onto my jeans - well, I wasn’t really sure if it were fake at this point anymore, “I AM NOT WORTHY!”

“Why the hell are you on the floor!?” I yelled, trying to shake her off.

“There are no chairs!” 

“Get off, idiot!”

Sasha wailed and flopped back to the floor dramatically. Making me roll my eyes because why the hell would someone just lie on the ground in front of somebody else‘s front door in the first place? I hadn’t even been gone that long, it was only five o’ clock!

I stepped over her body and gestured at Armin to do the same. He obliged hesitantly, keeping his legs away from her hands in case she tried to grab at him instead this time.

“Don’t go in there, Jean! Don’t!”

I ignored her and walked around the corner into the kitchen to find Eren and a small blonde girl chatting beside the counter.

The girl had multiple piercings and from what I could see there were two silver studs above her eyebrow, another on her nose, and a black lip ring. She wore a much too-large, baggy jacket and combat boots matched with a bright yellow sundress, with an addition of the sharpest winged eyeliner I’d ever seen in my life.

“Yo,” she greeted us when we walked in, expression blank.

I raised in an eyebrow in confusion when Armin gasped and put his hand over his mouth. I could still hear Sasha screaming around the corner and I yelled at her again to shut up, starting to feel slightly concerned myself when Armin didn’t go to say anything. Where the hell were Connie and Mikasa? They wouldn’t just leave Sasha alone like this without a good reason.

I scratched the back of my neck nervously, “Uh, who’s this?”

Eren’s eyebrows shot up and Armin looked at me like I was stupid but the girl just let out a short laugh, blue eyes twinkling under long lashes as she stuck out her hand towards me. Was I missing something here?

I shook it hesitantly and she started laughing again. There was a tattoo on her wrist and I tried my best not to stare at it - this girl was almost half my size but she looked a lot more mature, regardless of her mannerisms.

“The name’s Historia Reiss,” she grinned, shaking my hand back firmly “howdy do.”


	3. Definitely Not A Slumber Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team building and perfect punctuation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realised I didn't put a link to my [headcanons](http://magicalmiscreants.tumblr.com/post/120354664692/do-you-have-any-modern-au-snk-headcanons) (sorry).

“So, Historia,” I said, still slightly confused about why everyone seemed so surprised, “What do you do?”

Multiple groans filled the room and I saw Eren roll his eyes but he didn’t say anything.

Historia just grinned and pulled up her knees from where she was sitting on the ground. We had all formed some kind of makeshift circle on the carpet in the living room, including Sasha who had finally calmed down just enough to join us.

There was still no sign of Connie or Mikasa yet and I was starting to get a little worried. If they were going out why did they leave Sasha here of all people? And moreover, how the hell hadn’t the place been set on fire yet!? Like geez, it wasn't hard to pick up the phone and give me a call.

There was more laughter and I couldn’t help but sigh a little. Historia seemed to fit into the group like a glove and everyone still seemed pretty star struck by her presence. Great.

“Well, I’m a model for starters,” she finally answered, smiling a little at the overexcited Eren who was practically bouncing up and down in the space beside her, “I’ve also appeared in a couple of ads and I, uh, act part time.”

“Woah,” I replied, now feeling slightly awestruck. I guess that explained all the excitement earlier, “I - uh, wow.”

She let out a soft chuckle and glanced around the circle. When I arrived back I didn’t exactly expect to come face to face with someone famous, that’s for sure. I suddenly felt very self conscious about my flat - she probably thought it was a complete dump.

There was still no food, no chairs, no entertainment. 

“You’re so beautiful!” Sasha squealed from her position beside me, knocking me out of my sudden stupor “I’ve never met a celebrity before in real life!”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly consider myself a celebrity,” Historia continued, shrugging a little bit for emphasis, “I’m fairly local.”

Sasha hummed contentedly at her answer and rest her head against my shoulder. I didn’t even think she was really listening.

“So how did you and Eren umm…” Armin trailed off, gesturing between the two with his hand, obviously unsure of how to address this.

“It was actually kind of an accident,” Eren finally said, fingers tracing the pattern on my carpet “she thought I was a retail worker in hot topic.”

Historia looked embarrassed for a second but I jumped in, barking out a short laugh when they glanced away from each other in mortification, “Well, I don’t doubt that. He owns enough makeup to start his own business.”

Eren scowled, “Shut the hell up!”

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it, geez…” I grinned as he deflated a little, “Just stating the obvious.”

It looked like he was about to get up and strangle me for a second but Armin stopped him, grabbing onto the sleeve of his hoodie to keep him from crawling over and attacking me like the savage I knew he was.

“Guys,” he whined when Eren narrowed his eyes at me menacingly, “Please don’t fight.”

The buzzer for my flat went off and I stood up reluctantly. This place was smaller than the size of my old closet and the living room was already getting kind of packed, so hip hip hooray! A mystery guest is here to occupy more of my precious time and space! Who the fuck could it be now? 

I felt all pairs of eyes on me as I dusted off the back of my skinny jeans, letting out a loud exhale of breath as I reached towards the phone on the wall, “Yup?”

Everyone quieted down. They were probably trying to listen in, the bastards.

“It’s me,” Mikasa’s voice sounded from the speaker, “Open up.”

I let out a long sigh of relief and pressed the button, letting her into the building. Not more than two minutes later there was a knock on the door and I opened it up to find a still shivering Connie and a tired looking Mikasa, scarf wound tightly around her neck.

“We have food,” she said, holding up a couple of plastic bags, “Eren told us you were with Armin so we decided to throw you a house warming party.”

Connie stepped inside, looking around the place before his eyes stopped on Historia, “Well damn, Jean. Just invite the whole town why don’t you.”

“Hey!” I snapped back, grabbing him by the collar to stop him from sauntering any further, “This was not the plan, okay? Why the hell did you guys leave Sasha here alone!? She could have ripped this place apart!”

He ignored me and continued to stare around the room, “Did you even buy any chairs?”

Eren snickered.

I let go of Connie and slapped the back of his bald head, “Of course I did, you idiot!”

He raised his eyebrows at me and I did my best to refrain from shoving him back out in the cold. Fucking smartass.

“They’re in my car,” I continued, finally letting Connie through before turning to face Mikasa. He leapt towards my vacant spot and pulled Sasha in for a hug, making most of the group laugh when Sasha let out a loud yelp of surprise. Not even an _‘I’ll help you, Jean’_ so typical, “You in the mood for a little manual labour?”

Mikasa smiled softly and shrugged, “Who isn’t?”

“Yo,” I called back to the circle, “Eren?”

He gestured at Historia and I sighed. Why were we even friends?

Mikasa and I made our way down to where I had parked my car, making small talk on the way out. Fortunately, the boxes weren’t too heavy when I picked them out so it wouldn’t be much of a problem bringing them up in one trip.

“You coming gym tomorrow?” Mikasa asked as she piled a third box on top of the load I was already carrying, “It’s getting pretty lonely without you there to tell me how great my abs are.”

“I can’t,” I groaned, shifting in place slightly in order to maintain my balance, “I’m still job hunting.”

“Still?” she rose a thin eyebrow, stacking the other four boxes together before slipping them into her arms, “Why don’t you just join Sasha down at the supermarket or something?”

“Because Sasha actually has ambition,” I replied, resting the weight of the boxes on the car before reaching up to shut the boot.

“Well, so do you. You‘re good at drawing.”

Was she being serious right now?

I raised my own eyebrow back at her and she wiggled hers humorously in return, “Sasha wants to be some sort of actress, man. Do you really think I want to be sitting behind a check-out counter all day touching money when I have none of my own?”

“Well, isn’t that what you’re supposed to be thinking about?” she replied, lips pulling into a small smile, “Money.”

I tried to shrug but it was difficult when I was carrying a pile of boxes in my arms so I settled on a very furious looking nod. We took our time getting the stuff together and I locked my car, pleased knowing I wasn’t going to have to go on any more errands that evening. 

“So, what food did you buy?” I asked as we made our way back up the stairs.

I heard her laugh behind me and a smile of my own tugged at my lips.

“Well, wouldn’t you like to know.”

The door was still open when we reached my flat and I felt slightly relieved, not wanting to go fishing around in my pocket for my keys again. We dumped the boxes in the middle of the circle where everyone had already dug into the food and alcohol - it’s been what? Ten minutes since Mikasa and I went to the car and everyone had already taken all of the good stuff?

“This is not a slumber party,” I said, pushing Connie aside and claiming back my spot next to Sasha who was happily munching on a doughnut, “There are seven chairs and there are seven people, get to work.”

“I thought we were guests,” Armin replied, raising an eyebrow.

Eren nodded along but Historia just shrugged, reaching for one of the boxes.

“It won’t kill us to do a little bit of work,” she said, sliding her bright orange, polish covered nail along the plastic seal, “And we kind of invited ourselves over here anyway.”

“Speak for yourself,” Connie mumbled, chowing down on one of the pastries from the large cake box between him and Armin.

Eren sighed before following in suit and in no less than twenty minutes later the carpet was covered in random bolts, empty beer cans and a fuck ton of metal and plastic parts.

“I told you to read the instructions!” I snapped at Sasha who was very obviously tipsy and had begun rolling around on the ground after dismantling her chair for the fourth time, “The only people doing this properly are Armin and Mikasa!”

“I thought it would be easy!” she yelled back, pressing her face against my thigh and wailing into the material of my jeans.

Armin let out a quiet laugh and I glared back at him, feeling betrayed.

“Um, Sasha, was it?” he said, reaching over to pat her shoulder and gain her attention. She peeked out from behind my leg and nodded, finally sitting up enough to face him, “I think that you should probably start with the metal frame first instead of trying to jam the plastic on top - like this.”

He grabbed the dislocated parts of framework from where she lay on the carpet and placed them side by side, laying out the instructions for her to see and pointing to each diagram, offering well thought out explanations.

“Are you an angel?” Sasha whispered in awe. She lifted up the instructions and held them up to her face, “Connie, Jean! He’s an angel!”

“That’s great, Sash,” Connie slurred as he struggled to screw in one of the bolts, “Who the fuck even designed this model!?”

I mouthed a silent thank you to Armin and he shrugged modestly, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.

Mikasa was the first to finish, which wasn’t all that surprising it was kind of more like stating the obvious. Historia was second and Armin was third, both of them opting to help the others finish theirs.

I don’t think normal people did this at a slumber party - Wait, this wasn’t a fucking slumber party, dammit! Just a bunch of weirdo misfits, a supermodel, and a leopard print cardigan wearing Eren building chairs together in _my_ flat.

Yep, this pretty much sums up my entire life.

“How about we put on some music,” Eren suggested, getting up and leaving his mangled chair on the ground, “We need background noise.”

“I set the radio up in the kitchen,” Mikasa replied instantaneously and I shot her an incredulous look in return. How much of my stuff did she unpack?

“I guess it’s not a bad idea,” I sighed, leaning back on my hands while I tried and failed to blink away the dizziness I was getting from the alcohol, “Any station’s good.”

“Gotcha,” he started messing around with the dials (the thing was pretty old) and soon we got some quality of sound, albeit not the best.

Mikasa hummed along to whatever song was playing for the most part while she and Armin helped sort out the metal disaster that was Eren’s handiwork. I finished mine after a while and opted to help out Sasha who was still putting the plastic on the wrong way round. Connie and Historia were having some sort of conversation but I was pretty certain that after five minutes of yabbering away about the importance of pairing socks with sandals, he didn’t know who the hell she was besides her name.

The atmosphere was relaxed for a little while and almost all of the lost pieces of plastic had been returned to their rightful chairs. Was building furniture seriously this much of a disaster? I got this junk because it looked simple on the box, Christ.

Another couple of songs passed and soon most of us had quieted down, listening to the music in the background. However, the silence was short lived after the tempo of the song changed and Sasha bolted upright from where she was positioned on the carpet.

“Oh my god,” she squealed, “I love this song.”

Before I could say anything to stop her she had belted out into song, bursting my eardrums from where she was seated beside me in the process. 

No, please no, we have guests.

_“ROXANNE! You don’t have to put on the red light-”_

“Those days are over-” Connie quickly joined in, hopping over me to wrap his arm around her shoulders, “You don’t have to sell your body to the night!”

Oh my fucking god.

“ _Roxanne,_ ” Mikasa sang. Man, her voice was beautiful. Like, well I dunno, whatever sings and is pretty and smells like flowers, probably, “You don’t have to wear that dress tonight…”

Sasha grinned and grabbed Mikasa’s arm pulling her closer to where she sat with Connie, “Walk the streets for money…”

“You don’t care if it’s wrong or if it’s right!” Eren yelled from across the room and they all laughed and continued singing.

Historia looked startled and Armin looked like he didn’t know whether to sit out or join in. Eren tackled me from where he was sitting and I let out a loud squawk, rolling onto the carpet with him in tow.

“Eren-” I squirmed under him, trying to get away but he pinned me to the ground.

“Sing, dammit!” he wailed, shaking me by the shoulders, “I know you want to, come on! I hear you singing all the time so don‘t pretend you don‘t!”

He hiccuped and hung his head against my shoulder. Ugh, gross.

“I can’t-”

“Yes you can, oh my god!”

Mikasa, Sasha, and Connie were still singing and laughing together, completely ignoring the fact that I was being suffocated by a drunk, green eyed punk with perfect eyeliner.

“I’m not letting go until you sing with me,” he said, tightening his grip. Everyone had joined in now and I sighed, not wanting to be a party-pooper.

“ _I loved you since I knew you,_ ” I sang, badly at that. Geez, this was really humiliating, “I wouldn’t talk down to ya...”

Eren cheered and rolled off onto the carpet to lay beside me. Sasha and Mikasa were dancing together and even Historia looked like she was enjoying herself, obviously not used to witnessing such a strange turn of events.

Somehow, after another ten seconds of reluctant singing, I had joined the others jumping around the empty space of my living room. Chairs were strewn about the carpet and everyone struggled not to trip over any cans that were left lying around on the floor. The mood had changed more quickly than I’d ever possibly imagined and I couldn’t help but smile when I caught Armin laughing as he was dragged around by Eren, who had grabbed onto his hand and was now swaying to the rhythm of the music (but still not dancing, I noted). Mikasa on the other hand, was still jiving enthusiastically with Sasha, and Historia (who I was I pretty sure was still sober) was caught in the middle of it all, still smiling nether the less.

When I woke up at five am this morning I definitely did not expect my living room to become some makeshift dance floor for myself and six other people.

Sasha offered out her hand to me and I took it, twirling her around as the chorus played.

We all screamed the last few lines and collapsed into a fit of laughter as the song finished, all of us slipping back onto the floor together, circle completely deteriorated.

“This is the awesomest slumber party _ever!_ ” Sasha cheered, slumping against my back, “Let’s take a group selfie!”

" _No!_ "

\----------------------------

Oh man, my head hurt like a bitch. Shit.

“Hey there, bedhead,” Mikasa snorted as I trudged into the kitchen to the smell of coffee and burnt toast.

Eren, Armin and Historia had gone home around 1AM and my flat was near silent apart from the soft sound of snoring and the whirring of the kettle. Mikasa had offered to drive the three of them back but Historia (definitely sober) politely declined, saying that she could call a cab to drop back the others so Mikasa could spend more time with her _boyfriend._

That’s right, a local celebrity thought that I, Jean motherfucking Kirschstein, was Mikasa’s boyfriend. Which I wasn’t but still. Big achievement.

I nodded at her, still too sleepy to say anything that actually made sense and glanced back at Connie and Sasha who were lying on a mountain of pillows on the carpet, still fast asleep.

“How come you didn’t head home with the others?” I asked after a couple of minutes of silence, making myself a cup of coffee in the meantime. Didn’t I say I was going to go job hunting today? Fuck that.

“Historia stopped me, as you are well aware of, but I just wanted to make sure the place was functioning properly before I left,” she said, taking a large bite out of a pop tart before slapping it back down onto a plate on the countertop, “Everything seems fine.”

“Is that all it was?”

She nodded and took a sip of her own coffee. Well, I guess it didn’t take long for her to make herself comfortable.

“I also wanted to give those two a ride,” she continued, burying her face into her scarf, “I don’t think it would be safe to let them go home on public transport when they are two-thirds still drunk and have a hangover.”

“Well, you’re definitely right about that,” I sighed, resting my elbows on the counter. The both of us watched Connie and Sasha for a while until Mikasa finished her pop tart, dumping the plate in the sink and turning to properly face me.

“I unpacked a lot of your stuff for you while you were out,” she said, tapping her fingers against the small fridge, “Are you sure you don’t want to come to the gym with me?”

I nodded and ran my hands through my hair before bringing them down to cover my eyes. What time is it even? There was no way I got enough sleep last night.

She sighed, obviously not used to getting the silent treatment so early in the morning.

“I was talking to Connie last night.” 

“And?” I grumbled, removing my hands in order to look up at her.

“He said there might be a catering job open at the club he’s working at - it is kind of part time though.”

I shrugged and she rolled her eyes, leaning forward to match my position on the countertop.

“Look,” she slapped my cheek and I jumped. Finally moving my gaze away from the wall to look at her properly, “I know you’re a hard ass but you’ve got to start acting more responsible, okay? I’m trying to help you.”

I nodded and apologized. Was I really that much of an asshole? Mikasa looked pretty ticked off and I immediately felt awful. After all those years she’d spent trying to brush me off we finally had a _real relationship_. Maybe not the one I’d wanted but it was a close second - we were good friends and she was really trying to do something nice. Ugh.

“I’ll give it a go,” I finally said and her features softened slightly.

“That’s good,” she replied, removing her elbows from the counter in order to lean against it, back facing me, “So…”

“So?”

“What did you and Armin do yesterday? He told me he had fun when you were out but he didn‘t say much more,” She sipped her coffee again as I admired the curve of her back. Damn, Jean, you still have it bad. Get a grip.

“We just kind of wandered around the mall,” I said, standing up properly in order to grab some bread from where she was hovering at the other side of the counter, popping it into the toaster that now smelled faintly of icing and whatever other chemicals there were in pop tarts.

She nodded, eyes drifting over her bright orange mug to meet mine.

“Got coffee,” I lied, not wanting her to get the wrong idea, “Eren called so we had to come back here, that’s about it.”

“What, so like a date?”

The toaster popped and I jumped and reached towards it, hissing and pulling my hands away as my fingers came into contact with burning metal.

“Ow - fuck!” I spat, rushing to turn on the tap and rinsing my hand under the cold water for a couple of seconds, “No! No.”

She raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything else.

“Honestly, Mikasa,” I sighed, wanting to justify it, “I didn’t think anything of it and I don’t think he did either, I mean Armin is a cool guy, alright? It was just kind of a spontaneous decision. We met by pure coincidence.”

“I was just curious,” she replied, smiling now, “Armin is one of my best friends and I care about his well being.”

 _Did Armin even like guys?_ I wanted to ask.

“Yeah, but you always sound so suspicious…” I drawled, brushing off the thought before turning off the tap and placing my hands at either side of her on the countertop, “You sure there isn’t any other reason?”

“Nothing else comes to mind,” she replied shortly, smile still in place as she grabbed my wrists to pull my arms away and maneuver around me, making her way towards the toaster instead to pull out my burnt toast.

“Ugh, yuck. This is like the equivalent to walking in on your parents making out or something,” Connie groaned, rubbing his eyes as he emerged from the doorway and came to stand beside me, nudging my arm playfully, “Stop watching her ass, you perv.”

Mikasa twisted back around to raise her eyebrows and I let out an undignified squeak. Caught in the act, thanks a bunch, Connie.

“I tried waking Sasha up,” he continued, “But she sleeps like the dead. You got anything for hangovers man?”

I scowled and scratched the back of my head miserably, “I would if you did what I fucking asked you to yesterday when you and Sasha were storing my medicine cabinet.”

“Noooo,” he whined, burying his head in his hands.

“Serves you right, asshole.”

Mikasa narrowed her eyes and we both shut up immediately, not wanting to get on her bad side so early on in the day - oh, yeah. What time was it again? 

I pulled out my phone from the pocket of my jeans (yes, the same ones I was wearing last night) and saw that I had a bunch of messages. I flicked through, knowing Connie was watching over my shoulder. Most of them were a bunch of drunk texts from Eren but when I scrolled down I saw another from Armin.

We’d finally exchanged numbers last night during all the kafuffle but I couldn’t find it in myself to admit that the reason why I didn’t add him to my contacts after the party was because I had completely forgotten about him until we met for the second time. I hoped that he hadn’t thought it was a date after what Mikasa had said, though it was the least of my worries. I mean, yeah I thought he was pretty but I dunno it was more like pretty _for a guy_. Right? I was totally over thinking this. 

I responded to a couple of Eren’s texts, most of them ridiculous as fuck, before even glancing at Armin’s.

**_Received today at 7:13am_ **  
_Hey, it‘s Armin! Sorry for messaging you so early in the morning but I think I left my stuff at your place yesterday…Is it cool if I came to pick it up?_

Perfect punctuation, what a nerd.

**_Sent today at 9:37am_ **  
_yea, come over whenever man_

“Who are you texting!?” Connie asked, jumping up to see over my shoulder, “Show me!”

“None of your business,” I said, shoving it back into my pocket. I wonder what he left behind.

I walked out into the living room, kicking Sasha softly in the side to wake her up as I surveyed the area. In the corner of my eye I could still see Connie’s shaved head peering out from behind the doorway but I chose to ignore it, looking for anything that could possibly belong to Armin.

Bingo.

I pulled the curtains apart and Sasha hissed in the background, obviously disturbed by the newfound sunlight. I couldn’t help but grin when I saw the house shaped box sitting carefully against the wall. God, he was so dorky.

I grabbed the build-a-bear box and slipped past Sasha, who was still struggling to get up, and into my room. It was still really bare with mostly nothing unpacked yet. Almost all of my clothes were still in my suitcase so the built in wardrobe was empty besides from some of the boxes I had stuffed inside when I realized there wasn’t enough space in the room to begin with. I placed the box on one of the shelves and closed the door quickly.

I suppose I was kind of doing Armin a favour. He probably wouldn’t want anyone to see it (assuming that was the reason why he’d put it behind the curtains in the first place.)

My phone buzzed again and I slipped my hand into my back pocket to pull it out.

**_Received today at 9:49am_ **  
_Okay! Send me your address, I‘ll head over now._

I text him back an “okay” with my address and wandered back out into the living room. Sasha was finally sitting up and Mikasa was seated beside her, both of them talking in hushed voices.

“Hey, what was with that box?” Sasha asked, squinting up at me from her position on the carpet, “It looked like something you’d find in a toy store.”

I shrugged and pulled up a chair “It was just a bunch of books my ma gave me, nothing special.” Man, I should work in politics or something, that lie slipped out of my mouth faster than the sponge cake Marco baked one time in eighth grade. That shit was just plain nasty.

She nodded and rest her head against Mikasa’s arm who in turn patted Sasha’s shoulder. Sasha’s eyes were red and her leggings had been rolled up to bunch underneath her knees, bright purple heels now abandoned and strewn across the carpet.

We sat there in silence for a short while, Sasha with her eyes closed and Mikasa running her fingers through her ponytail. We didn’t have any painkillers so this was the only other option, I guess I could just count myself lucky that she didn’t need to throw up. I cringed at the thought.

Connie emerged from the kitchen after another five minutes of quiet, carrying two pale blue mugs filled to the brim with an unknown substance. The colour reminded me of Armin’s stupid blue bobble hat and I laughed shortly under my breath.

He handed one mug to Sasha of whom sighed and pressed it against her cheek, he kept the other for himself, sipping at it gingerly.

“It’s just hot water,” Connie said when he noticed me eyeing it, “I added honey and lemon as a detoxin since there were no pills.”

Sasha hummed and I nodded, wondering if today was going to be a lazy day.

It wasn’t unusual for the four of us to hang out like this, with Eren usually at college or his photography course. I couldn’t help but ponder the fact that Eren and Mikasa hadn’t introduced Armin to any of us earlier. He’d known Annie and she and I had gone to school together for crying out loud!

It was strange but I didn’t know how to address it. Who the hell doesn’t introduce their best friend to their group of other really good friends!? Furthermore, their other really good friends that they had _practically_ grown up with. I mean, I introduced Sasha and Connie to Mikasa and Eren. So why couldn’t they do the same?

The colour had started to return to Sasha’s face around fifteen minutes later and soon we were all chatting again, albeit doing so quietly. My own migraine had disappeared a little while ago but I knew Sasha and Connie still had theirs.

“Do you think Historia will hang out with us again?” Sasha asked, her back was still propped up by the mountain of pillows behind her and a fuzzy yellow blanket was spread out over her legs.

“I dunno,” Mikasa mumbled into her hair from where she was still leaning against the brunette, “She seemed nice enough.”

Connie shrugged, “She was kind of old.”

“She’s twenty-three.”

“That’s older than I am.”

“Connie, you’re nineteen,” I groaned, running my hand through my hair, “Shut up.”

Sasha let out a short “ha” and closed her eyes again, “It would be nice to have a new friend.”

“What about Armin?” Mikasa asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

“Oh yeah! He was super nice too!”

“I think she just wants celebrity benefits,” I snickered, nudging Sasha’s leg with my foot.

“No I don’t, Jean! Oh my god,” she whined in response, opening her eyes to glare at me, “I really liked Armin too! I just meant that it’s not the same because Mikasa and Eren knew him before yesterday!”

Connie rolled his eyes and set his empty mug down on the carpet, “Armin was actually pretty cool. Where the heck were you two hiding him for so long, huh?”

Mikasa shrugged, “He kind of has his own thing going on and I didn’t want to contaminate him with your terrible banter.”

“My banter is not terrible, okay!? I’m hilarious!”

“ _Right._ ”

“I’ve got a headache, please be quiet.”

The buzzer went off suddenly and I slowly dragged myself off of the floor, knowing exactly who it would be.

Connie and Mikasa wore similar looks of curiosity but Sasha just groaned when another loud buzz sounded again throughout the small room, “That better be pizza delivery.”

“Oh yeah, I’m definitely going to order pizza at ten something in the morning,” I replied sarcastically before pulling the phone off of the wall, "Yo."

“Hey,” came a muffled voice from the speaker, “It’s Armin, can you let me in. I’m really cold. Please.”

I almost nodded before realizing that he couldn’t see me and pressed the button to let him up.

“It’s Armin,” I said, turning back to the others.

“What’s Armin doing here so early in the morning?” Mikasa yawned, stretching her arms out before resting them on top of her head.

“He forgot something last night.”

Mikasa hummed in reply and leaned back against Sasha again, “He’s always forgetting things, the poor lamb.”

“You talk about him like he’s your child or something,” Connie said and Mikasa chuckled.

“What if Armin was Eren and Mikasa’s son,” Sasha chipped in, “That would explain everything.”

“Okay,” I interrupted, making my way back over to the group, “Do not say that shit when he comes in.”

“Why not?”

“It’s weird.”

Mikasa burst out laughing and I raised an eyebrow at her, slightly startled.

“Armin can take it don’t worry,” she snorted, lips thinning before pulling up into one of those rare but beautiful smiles (not that her smiles weren’t always beautiful, I mean this is Mikasa, come on), “Seriously, it’s fine.”

There was a knock on the door about a minute later and Sasha and I both jumped up at the same time to answer it. I narrowed my eyes at her but she rushed towards the door, elbowing me in the ribs when I tried to grab her arm to stop her from getting past.

She pulled open the door just as I made my way to stand beside her, revealing a very dishevelled looking Armin. He was still wearing the same blue knitted bobble hat and a much too-large parka with the hood pulled up, his nose and cheeks were bright red from the cold.

“Sorry,” he huffed, still shaking all over, “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything, I didn’t realise that uh,” he looked past Sasha’s frame at the others before pulling his hat further over his ears, “-that anyone would be here.”

Sasha’s eyebrows furrowed for a second before she gasped and reached out to grab Armin by the sleeve, pulling him inside, “Did you come to see Jean?”

“Well,” Armin said, lacing his fingers together, “This is kind of _his_ flat.”

“Oops,” Sasha giggled, “That was my bad, I stayed here overnight. You look frozen!”

She reached forward and squished both of his cheeks against her hands. Jesus, did the concept of personal space even exist to her?

“Hello,” I sighed, waving my hand in front of her face to get her attention, “Still here.”

She jumped back in surprise and smiled suddenly, grabbing Armin by the shoulders and practically throwing him at me, “He’s all yours! Connie let’s bounce!”

What?

Connie grabbed a fistful of carpet while Armin and I stood by the doorway, both of us watching as Sasha rushed over and virtually dragged him off of the ground.

“But I’m tired as fuck!”

“It’s okay, I can give you guys a lift home,” Mikasa smiled, standing up from the mountain of pillows before making her way to the kitchen countertop to grab her coat.

I continued to watch the scene play out and soon the three of them were waving goodbyes and slamming the door in my face before I could come up with anything reasonable to say.

“What the hell was that about?” Armin asked as we made our way into my bedroom, “They practically ran out.”

I shrugged as he looked around the place. Man, this was embarrassing, “Sorry about that. I dunno what they were thinking.”

“Does Sasha not like me or something?” he mumbled, peeking up at me from under his hood before pulling it down around his shoulders, “I didn’t mean to force my way in or anything like that.”

“No, no,” I replied quickly, pulling the doors of my wardrobe open, “It definitely wasn’t anything you did. She thinks you’re great, I promise.”

He nodded and didn’t say anything else, waiting patiently as I reached in and pulled out the box.

“This was it, right?”

“Yeah,” he took it from me carefully, gnawing on his bottom lip for a second, “Thank you for keeping it safe for me.”

“Huh?” I grunted, nearly slamming the wardrobe door on my fingers when he smiled up at me softly, “Yeah, uh. Yeah, man it’s cool.”

He shrugged and swayed slightly when it suddenly turned quiet, glancing back around the room.

What the hell do I say now?

“You know, when you told me you were getting your own place the first thing I thought was _isn’t he a bit young to be living by himself,_ ” Armin said, finally breaking the silence, “I mean, buying your own place isn’t cheap - uh…”

He trailed off and I still couldn’t think of anything to say so I continued to stare at the closed wardrobe, hoping that he’d continue.

“What do you work as?”

I laughed a little uncomfortably and scratched the back of my undercut, shifting my gaze to meet his, “I actually don’t have a job right now.”

He raised his thick eyebrows in concern, blue eyes widening a little, “So you moved into a place by yourself and you don’t even have any financial support?”

“Well money isn’t exactly the biggest problem in the world,” I shrugged, “My ma’s got me covered until I find work. Just the perks of being a rich French boy, ya know?”

Armin scowled and broke our gaze, opting to stare down at the box in his arms, “No, I don’t know actually.”

Oh shit. Did I hit a nerve?

He smiled again suddenly, albeit not as warmly, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you, I’m just a little tired.”

“No, uh,” I stopped twiddling my thumbs and stepped towards him, trying to regain eye contact, “I should be the one apologizing, that was inconsiderate of me.”

His features relaxed a little and he stared up at me curiously, making me tense slightly in anticipation. 

“I don’t really get you,” he said, gaze drilling intensely into mine, “One minute you’re kind of a narcissistic asshole and the next you’re…”

“I’m…?”

“You’re- really civil,” he sighed, finally breaking eye contact before making his way over to the door.

I followed behind him, not knowing how to respond. Usually I would challenge something like that but I couldn’t find it in myself to do so. I’d never met anyone like Armin before. He was polite yet assertive, weird yet…

“I’m gonna head off, um,” he gently shook his head in thought before pulling his hood up with the hand not holding the box, “call me, next time - if you want to see me. I don’t usually text first.”

I nodded.

“I’m serious,” he smiled, the corners of his lips upturning in the same way I remembered seeing him do at the party, “Really, Jean you better call.”

“I will,” I huffed, a grin of my own forming at the way his pretty face had suddenly brightened, “You should follow me on instagram or something.”

He bit his lip and swayed again, this time a lot more cheerfully, “I don’t have instagram but uh,” he shrugged, “thanks for the gesture, I think?”

“No problem,” I replied, face heating up at the way his puffy pink lips twisted back into a smile, “Any time you wanna see this beautiful face of mine, just give me a bell.”

“Was that an invitation to come and visit or...?”

“It sure was.”

Armin narrowed his eyes and clutched the build-a-bear box closer to his chest, “So are we friends now?”

“Well I kind of assumed so, yeah,” I said, opening the front door for him, “If you want.”

“I want,” his eyes widened for a second at his own reply and he stepped outside looking startled, “I mean, I’d like that. I’d like for us to be- Friends.”

His face had started to turn red and I tapped my fingers against the door frame, trying to think of something else to say, “You know-”

“I just-“ he cut himself off, “Oh, sorry! Were you going to say something I-”

“No- no!” I replied quickly, “You’re good.”

“I just, wanted to say thank you,” he gestured down at the box, “Again.”

I started to laugh at how polite he was being and he joined in for a second. It soon died out however, leaving the atmosphere in some ways a lot more relaxed than it had been beforehand.

He raised his hand and waved me goodbye, still clutching onto the box like it was his lifeline. I raised mine in return and he smiled, with teeth this time. When he was gone I was left with a strange feeling in my chest, like some odd mixture of interest and contentment.

Armin was so weird yet… everything about him was just so intriguing. From his hand-me-down clothes down to the articulate way he pronounced words and formed sentences. I thought I was good at reading people but apparently not. I didn’t understand anything about him.

And despite that, I was so sure that I wanted to find out more.


	4. Budding Friendships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Group bowling, rain, and kissing!?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter is like 10k words.

“-So, now I’m kind of reigning king-” Eren grinned, walking backwards along the pavement, face illuminated by the glow of the overhead streetlights, “Sorry, Mikasa but stop giving me that look! You know it’s true.”

“You only won last time because you shoved me when I was trying to throw the ball, jerk,” Mikasa huffed from beside him, burying her face in her scarf.

We were all going bowling, which was certified by Eren as of this morning. He said it would be fun to play with more people, which I personally think was just an excuse to drag Historia along with us. Sasha, Connie and I walked side by side with Armin and Historia behind, chatting away between themselves. Eren and Mikasa had taken the lead on this one but I don’t think they minded, it was their idea in the first place.

Eren had also said that Mikasa’s older cousin worked there so they got discounts all the time. Figures.

Sasha and Connie were bickering about something as we walked but I just relished in the warmth my jacket gave me. I actually kind of liked the icy weather, it was weirdly calming.

“My feet are so sore!” Sasha cried, speed walking towards Mikasa to grab onto her arm, “Why couldn’t we just take your car?”

“The roads are too icy tonight,” she responded, “It’s not that far.”

“We walked all this way for fucking bowling, man,” Connie chipped in, and Sasha nodded, “Screw this stupid weather. I hate Trost.”

“You don’t hate Trost, shut up,” I grumbled, stuffing my hands into my pockets, “It can’t be that much further, right?”

“We are almost there,” Eren replied, “Fifteen minutes more.”

Sasha and Connie groaned and Mikasa shrugged apologetically. I could hear Armin and Historia talking about something completely off topic in the background and I stared up at the starless sky, watching the smoke leave my mouth before it evaporated into the cold air.

“Armin and Eren walk here with me all the time,” Mikasa suddenly said, the heels of her boots still clicking loudly as she walked ahead of us, “I thought it was a good idea to go out and spend more time together as a bigger group.”

“Of course you did,” Connie sighed, wrapping his arms around himself for warmth, “There’s no way I’m cut out for this shit.”

“It’s going to be really fun,” Armin finally input from behind us, “There is an arcade and a café inside too! Plus, you guys won’t have to pay to get in!”

“Wait, hold on for a second there, buddy. Are you saying that there is gonna be cheap food!?” Sasha exclaimed, pace quickening as her grip tightened around Mikasa’s arm, “Sign me the fuck up! Let‘s go, let‘s go!”

We all laughed.

“Great motivation, huh,” I pulled a face, looking back to catch Armin‘s attention, “Didn’t realise it’d be that easy.”

“I didn’t think it would be either,” he responded with a shrug as Historia made her way up to the front to link arms with Eren. I fell into step with him so we could walk together at the back, “Are you excited?”

“I guess,” I replied, smiling a little when Connie nearly tripped over a slab of broken concrete, “Well, as excited I could possibly be about bowling.”

Armin laughed, “Yeah, I know it’s not Disneyland or anything but…” he trailed off, gaze traveling towards some of the Christmas lights still hanging along buildings and streetlamps, “It feels familiar, I guess.”

It didn’t take him very long to zone out, engrossed in our surroundings. The street still looked pretty dull to me but the smile he was wearing beneath the collar of his coat told me that he thought otherwise. His mind never seemed to take a break from as far as I could tell, he was always thinking about something. He pursed his lips and peered off into the distance when we rounded a corner, staring at the artificial stars and cheap santa décor that was plastered to the windows of a nearby house. 

“You like the lights?”

“What-?” He mumbled, head snapping back to face me before his eyes widened in realisation, “Yes- yes, I do.”

“Cool.”

His already red cheeks seemed to burn brighter at the observation.

For a second it looked like he didn‘t know how to respond but he started to speak again anyway, scratching the side of his nose gently in thought, “I know you guys don’t really seem to like the weather that much but I think that when it’s like this-,” he sighed, “it can be very beautiful.”

“No, I totally agree with you.” I replied, feeling a sudden warmth in my chest when his eyes just about sparkled. 

“You do?”

“Yeah. I think winter is pretty cool, ya know?” I said, watching in mild disgust as Sasha struggled to pull the gum out of her braces from where she was walking in front, “I mean, I love summer but we can’t have it all, right?”

“I hate summer,” Armin cringed, squirming a bit when Mikasa held out her hand for Sasha to spit the gum into, “I always feel gross and sweaty and I’m stuck at home all day so it’s always like, five thousand degrees out.”

“Don’t you ever go to the beach or anything?” I asked and he raised his eyebrows, “I mean, that’s always fun.”

Armin shrugged and didn’t respond so I opted to listen to the sound of the others for another minute or two instead. I didn’t mind this kind of silence, it was a comfortable sort. He went back to admiring the lights again while I watched the others upfront. We were the loudest occupants of the almost empty street and the darkness of the evening seemed to encourage that. Eren had now claimed ownership of Mikasa’s floppy hat and was parading around the streets wearing it, inducing a lot of laughter from Historia when he danced up ahead.

“Hurry up, darlings you are too slow!” he called jokingly at us, reaching up to tip his hat to the side dramatically, “Historia get me a venti caramel macchiato! Chop, chop!”

“Right away boss!” The smaller girl grinned, running ahead and handing him the water bottle from her tote bag, “Here you are, your majesty.”

“Thank you, Historia dear. You have saved me from a lifetime of wrong doings!”

Connie burst out laughing as did Mikasa who tried to snatch her hat back but on each attempt, failed to do so.

“Give me my hat back, you dork.”

“No way,” Eren grinned, snapping the suspenders across his chest with his fingers as he skipped away from her, “It goes with my outfit.”

We finally got to the bowling place another couple of minutes later and I was genuinely surprised to find it moderately busy. From the way Mikasa had spoken about it earlier, I’d thought it would be a little hole in the wall.

The place was brightly lit and awful music thumped loudly from the speakers above our heads. The walls were painted a really gross yellow colour and it me feel a bit nauseous. There was a line of large mirrors across the wall and when I glanced at my reflection I realized how out of place our group looked compared to the others hanging around the entrance. Eren walked in front, arms still linked with Historia, both of them dressed in dark colours with their jewelry glistening under the fluorescent lighting. Sasha was right behind them, wearing her signature bright purple heels and mismatched socks combo. She clung onto Mikasa’s arm when the automatic doors opened and that led us into another room with a bunch of couches and an empty desk.

Eren pointed out that you could sign in there for karaoke and that got us all talking again. 

The room was warm and I immediately felt uncomfortable with all of my layers on, Connie looked even more unsettled and undid his jacket to reveal one of his novelty Hawaiian print shirts. Yuck. Where is Jesus when you need him.

“It’s really cozy in here,” I heard Sasha whisper to Armin and he nodded, looking a little zoned out himself.

We walked through a small entryway and finally made our way towards the counter, seating a bored looking guy that was - was he sticking his pen into his coffee mug?

“Hey, Levi! Levi!” Eren ran up to the counter with Historia in tow. The guy, Levi, just raised a thin eyebrow in response and Eren let out an impatient sigh, “Give me discounts!”

“Nice hat,” he commented, pulling his pen out of his coffee and thereby letting it drip everywhere onto the countertop. The man didn’t even fucking flinch.

“It’s mine,” Mikasa sighed, leaning over the counter to talk to him, “But he’s right, we’ve got four newbies with us today.”

“What about Armin?”

“Armin’s right here,” she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the front to stand beside her, “See.”

“Hi, Levi,” Armin sent him a soft smile.

“Hey, kid,” Levi replied, glancing around at the rest of the group. When his eyes stopped on me and it freaked me out a little bit. This guy was scary as shit, how could the three of them talk so casually to him!? He refocused on Mikasa, “So, how many is that? Seven people?”

“You’ve got it.”

“Shoe sizes?”

We all gave our sizes in turn but Levi just plopped three pairs of shoes casually onto the counter and pushed them towards Mikasa before grabbing the others. Mikasa handed an appropriately sized pair to both Eren and Armin and kept the other for herself. We all waited until the other shoes had been placed on the desk. Mikasa mouthed the word “cousin” towards us when his back was turned and we all nodded grudgingly.

“Here,” he slid the receipt over the counter to Mikasa, leaning forward slightly to talk to her when she reached for it. It immediately made me think of those old crime dramas you‘d see on TV, where the shady looking guy hands a memo to the double agent. But this was just like a cheap reenactment, “And don’t tell Erwin I’m doing this shit for you, alright? Last time he gave me some big ass lecture.”

He glanced towards a blond man standing beside the gates who shot Levi the “I’m watching you” gesture.

Levi sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Here is your entry ticket, have a totally super, fantastical time,” he droned as unenthusiastically as I deemed possible. This guy looked like he’d rather jump in front of a moving vehicle than sit at that tiny desk all night long reciting those words.

The other man nodded in approval and I had to stifle my laughter. God help me, I did not want this Levi dude to get all up in my shit.

Mikasa led the way to the gates and handed the blond man, Erwin, the tickets. He was a lot friendlier than Levi was and made small talk with us on sight. He scanned us all in and we walked through into the bowling alley, quickly finding our allocated lanes.

“Okay,” Mikasa started as she sat down on one of the chairs to pull off her boots, “Since there are two lanes we can have two teams. The team with the most points at the end wins.”

“What do they win?” Connie asked, plopping down beside her before kicking off his doc martens, “I mean, there’s gotta be some sort of prize.”

Eren squeezed himself into the spot between Armin and Sasha, pulling off his floppy hat and placing it on Armin’s head, “How about the losers buy dinner?”

“ _Eren,_ ” Armin hissed, securing the hat properly when it had started to slip down over his eyes, “I don’t have a lot of money on me right now and you know I‘m not good at this.”

“Don’t worry, man,” Eren grinned, wrapping his arm around the other boy’s shoulders, “You can be on my team, I’ve got your back.”

“Is that right, _reining king?_ ” I snickered, pulling my own shoes off, “You act like you always know exactly what you’re doing.”

“I sure as fuck do,” he scowled, squinting across at me from where he was seated.

“You really think you’re gonna win that easily?”

“Well, duh,” Eren sniped back, tightening his grip around Armin, “What? You really think you can beat me, asswipe? This is my domain!”

“Hell yeah, I could! Screw your domain!”

“Is that a challenge I’m hearing?” Connie grinned, standing up and bouncing on the balls of his feet, “Cause if it is, you should wager it a little bit more efficiently.”

“How?” Eren asked, slipping his foot into one of the ugly multicolored shoes, “Isn’t paying for food enough?”

Connie shrugged, “Well, yeah but I mean, that’s a pretty heavy bet. How about considering the rest of the team, huh?”

I glanced at Armin who had started slipping his feet into his own shoes, hat still placed hazardously over his head.

“He’s right,” I added, leaning back in my seat to stare at the lights on the ceiling, “It’s unfair.”

“So what do you suggest?”

“How about if your team wins, Jean pays,” Connie replied, “And if his team wins, you pay.”

“That does make things a little more interesting,” Eren grinned, finally standing up and moving over towards where Mikasa was typing in her information, “I call Armin, Mikasa, and Historia.”

Oh, fuck no.

“What the hell!?” I snapped, pulling him back by his suspenders before he could saunter too far off, “That means you have four people! And you’ve got a huge advantage anyway because you guys have been here before!”

“Sorry, sugar,” Eren smiled smugly, patting my cheek when I scowled at him, “Tough luck.”

“No fair!” Sasha huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, “You know how to work the system!”

“The what?”

“The system!”

Eren rolled his eyes but Armin pulled him aside, clutching onto his arm, “Why don’t we just let them have Historia-”

“What!? No way!” Eren exclaimed.

“It’s only fair, please.”

Eren pouted but nodded in response, turning back to where Mikasa was waiting. I walked over to the other lane and typed in the names of my team into the machine. We all took off our coats and I could still feel Eren glaring at me so I stuck my finger up at him silently in return, what an douche. He was probably just scared now that I was gonna kick his ass.

“Out of my way, bitches!” Sasha grinned, rolling up her sleeves and tucking any lose strands of her hair behind her ears, “Mama‘s gonna get us some free food.”

She grabbed a mediocre looking ball and played with it in her hands for a couple of seconds before replacing it with another bright orange one.

“Go Sasha!” Connie cheered from where he was now sitting beside me, “Kick ass!”

Mikasa scoffed from the lane next to ours and picked up a green ball for herself, weighing it in her hands for a second before matching Sasha’s position.

“Drag the bitch!” Eren screamed and Armin covered his mouth with his hands to prevent him from yelling any louder.

Historia and Connie cheered when Sasha rolled the ball down the lane. It swerved for a couple of seconds before knocking down a reasonable six pins. She still looked proud of herself however, picking up another ball at random and throwing it down the lane. It knocked another two down and I cheered, even though she didn’t really do that great of a job.

Mikasa sighed and lazily threw her ball down the lane, uncaring of Eren’s screams to “focus” and “stop showing off, Mikasa.”

She knocked all ten pins down in one go and my jaw dropped. We all watched as the screen above her head flashed and the word “strike” appeared, there was even a change in music from the speakers around the room.

“How the hell did you do that!?” Connie yelled, expression a mixture of shock and irritation.

Mikasa slipped her hands into the pockets of her cardigan and blinked slowly, “Pure unadulterated swag.”

Sasha’s mouth hung open as the other girl walked back to her seat, resting her head on Eren’s shoulder as he rambled on about how cool that was.

“Okay, I’m gonna bring my A game,” Historia whispered to us as Sasha sat back down in her space looking absolutely mortified.

Historia grabbed a small pink ball and walked up to the lane. She waved to Armin, who was lined up next to her, and aimed her shot. She finished her turn with a spare and Connie, Sasha, and I cheered. Armin knocked over six pins and Eren shouted a reassuring “ _you’ve got this, buddy,_ ” in the background. His next shot was a gutter ball and he looked embarrassed but Historia just patted him on the shoulder and told him that he did great.

“I’m not that good at stuff like this,” he admitted, “But it’s just fun to play with friends, you know?”

Historia nodded and they both sat down. It was my turn now and I saw Eren narrow his eyes from the seat across from mine. Asshole.

“You ready, Jaeger!?” I called, rolling up the sleeves of my striped shirt as I made my way towards the ball dispenser.

“Fuck yeah, I am!” he yelled back, snatching up the same ball that Mikasa used on her turn, “You better have brought your credit card, Kirschstein cause you’re about to pay, big time!”

“Suck my dick!”

“You wish, asshole!”

I picked up a heavier ball and matched his position in front of the lane. I could hear multiple whoops and cheers from the others in the background and a loud “ _wreck him, Jean!_ ” from Sasha.

“Prepare to eat your words,” I hissed, launching the ball down the lane and successfully knocking down eight pins on my first go. Connie screamed in the background and I turned to face Eren who had also taken his shot and knocked down eight - eight pins!?

Eren looked smug, putting his hands on hips and tilting his head to the side in mock surprise, “What was that, horseface?”

Oh, it was so on right now.

“Nothing,” I grumbled, grabbing another ball for my next turn.

He did the same and this time I tried to concentrate. Aiming to my left and knocking over one pin. Fuck.

Eren laughed and played with the ball in his hands, smirking at me before throwing the ball down the lane and knocking down his remaining pins.

“You snooze, you lose, Kirschstein,” he stuck his tongue out at me childishly when the loud speaker above our heads let out it's usual shriek and wandered back over to Armin and Mikasa, both of whom high fived him on the way past.

“Don’t get too comfortable, Eren!” Connie yelled, patting me on the shoulder when I found my way back to my seat sulkily.

“Yeah!” Sasha added, jumping up from her chair, “We’re coming for you!”

Mikasa laughed and the game continued, albeit not as intensely. 

Well, speaking for the others at least. Eren and I were still head to head and each team’s points were soon becoming tied on every turn. The others swapped seats occasionally to talk to each other while they waited for their turn and soon enough Sasha and Connie were up and dancing to one of the terrible songs being blasted from the speakers.

I had taken my last turn and the points for both teams were three-hundred and twenty to me and three-hundred and twenty-three to Eren. The last people up were Connie and Mikasa so we were pretty much fucked.

I guess I should start looking in my coat for my wallet.

Sasha buried her head in her hands but Historia watched intently as Connie made his way to the ball dispenser, giving me a quick thumbs up before weighing out his options. He picked up a heavy looking red ball and walked towards the lane, glimpsing at Mikasa who was already in place. She nodded to him and he gestured at her to go first, so she did. Her aim was not as precise this time but she managed to knock over six pins. I saw her curse under her breath and grab for another ball quickly, this time she would get it, all the pins were lined up perfectly just enough for her to get a spare.

She held the ball up to her face for a second, aiming. She stepped back, swinging the ball behind her just as someone’s loud default ring tone sounded and she jumped, flinging the ball hazardously across the lane and into the gutter.

Oh my fucking god.

She turned slowly and I could just about feel the anger radiating off of her.

“Who?”

Nearly all of us shrugged out of fear for our lives and she walked over to her handbag, unzipping it and pulling out her phone. She looked at the screen and immediately pressed the decline button.

“Blocked number,” she sighed, sitting down miserably next to Armin. Connie hovered by the ball dispenser, unsure whether or not to throw his own.

Maybe I didn’t have to get my credit card out just yet.

“Get ‘em, Connie!” Historia suddenly cheered after a few seconds of quiet and he jumped, shocked.

“A-Alright!” he replied, shooting Mikasa another concerned glance before turning back to face his lane.

Historia continued to yell and I joined in. Because no duh, I still wanted to win, obviously.

Sasha, Eren, Mikasa and Armin added to the yells of encouragement a little bit after and Connie grinned, launching the ball down the lane and knocking over five pins. We ignored any looks we got from other occupants of the place but I still internally prayed that we wouldn’t get kicked out.

“Go on, Connie!” Armin shouted from where he was sitting, his arm now linked with Mikasa’s, “You’ve got this!”

Connie threw another ball down the lane and it rolled slowly this time. We all watched in anticipation and from beside me I could hear Sasha chanting “snail ball, snail ball,” over and over again and it was getting pretty damn annoying. I put my hand over her mouth to shush her and she clung onto my sleeve, both of us waiting in anticipation for the ball to hurry the fuck up and hit something already.

Connie looked like he wanted to run down the lane and kick the pins down himself.

“Come on, come on…”

“SPARE!” the overhead speakers shrieked and Sasha, Historia and I jumped up from our seats, running over to pull Connie into a team hug. We probably looked like total idiots standing there but we were too excited about our victory. I, on the other hand, felt overjoyed at the fact that I won’t have to go down to the bank tomorrow. Suck it, Eren.

“You sly son of a bitch!” I grinned, while Sasha screeched happily into his shoulder, “How the hell did you pull that one out of your ass!?”

“I have no fucking idea, man,” he admitted, bald head poking out from underneath my arm, “I have no fucking idea.”

The four of us stood like that for a couple of seconds, with Sasha still yelling and Historia squashed in between the both of us. I looked overhead to glance at the other three. Armin and Mikasa seemed unfazed but they weren’t the ones that were gonna be losing over £50 tonight.

“Get your wallet out, Jaeger!” I yelled to Eren who was sulking in his seat like the big baby I knew he was, “Dinner’s on you! Haha-!”

He told me to shut the fuck up in response and Mikasa burst out laughing, standing up and pulling both boys with her over to where we were standing. Sasha dragged the three of them into the hug and Historia let out a small yelp. Soon all seven of us were squashed together in a messy huddle in front of the closed lane. It was kind of uncomfortable but it was a nice gesture all the same.

“We probably look like a bunch of twats right now.”

“Shut up, Jean,” Eren mumbled against my arm.

We ended up going to the café Armin had mentioned before, all of us squashed into a large booth by one of the windows. It was really dark outside except for the surrounding street lights in the car park and the cheap looking Christmas lights that were still up for some reason, hanging outside of most buildings in the distance.

Sasha had devoured almost everything she’d ordered and Eren still looked a bit sour faced at how much money he had spent. Armin had insisted that he’d buy his own food but Eren wouldn’t have it, responding with an, “If I’m paying for the rest of these assholes, I’m paying for my best friend too.”

We had all ordered milkshakes and now Sasha, having finished hers, was attempting to persuade me for some of my own.

“Pleaaase, Jean,” she whined, resting her head next to her empty plate on the table, “I won’t ask you for anything else ever again.”

“Okay, I think we all know that is total utter bullshit,” I said, sipping the peanut butter flavored piece of heaven that was my milkshake (that shit was seriously good, holy fuck), “Go mack off somebody else for a change.”

“Can I have some of your fries, Mikasa,” she asked the girl opposite her, “I will stop asking if you give me some, please.”

Mikasa held out her basket of fries to her but when Sasha reached out to take some she snatched it back, popping one of them into her mouth, “Nah.”

Connie started to laugh and patted Sasha’s shoulder sympathetically when the brunette let out a cry loud enough to startle other occupants of the place. Not that there were many people but there were just about enough. Why the hell did I hang out with these losers on a daily basis?

I don’t know, Jean. Maybe because you yourself are also a loser.

Not that I didn’t think Sasha and Connie weren’t hilarious. They were probably the best friends I’ve ever had. Well, besides Marco. But he was probably off doing whatever right now with his brand new, cooler friends while I live it up here with no job and an apartment full of shitty ikea chairs. Wow, even my inner thoughts were bitter as fuck.

“Oi,” Eren said, slouching back in his seat, “Someone pass me the salt.”

Was he still sulking?

“And by someone I mean you, Jean.”

Well, I guess that answers that question.

Historia reached over and plucked the salt from across the table and handed it to Eren, “It’s not exactly a chore, dude.”

Eren sighed and played with his eyebrow stud, “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“Truce?” I asked, popping a fry into my mouth before holding out my hand to him.

“Truce,” he replied, reluctantly shaking my hand before going back to his own meal.

Armin had remain weirdly quiet through this whole exchange and I caught him staring out of the window vacantly. I nudged what I thought was his foot under the table and he glanced away from the glass, catching my eye and giving me a soft kick back.

I bit my lip softly to contain my laughter when he raised an eyebrow at me and childishly kicked him again. This time he rest an elbow on the table, covering his mouth with back of his hand when he knocked his foot against mine in return. This exchange carried on for a little while longer until Eren bolted upright in his seat, hitting the table with his knee and causing all of us to jump.

“Who is trying to play footsie with me!?” he asked accusingly, staring around the table with flushed cheeks.

Armin snorted quietly into his hand and I looked away towards the wall on the other side of the room. From the corner of my vision I could see Historia peering over at us with a knowing look on her face but she didn’t say anything, thank fuck.

“Why would you just announce something like that?” Mikasa asked, dipping the tip of her fry into her ketchup, “God.”

“Sorry,” Eren put his hands up in mock surrender, “But these shoes were a rare find and I don’t want anyone scuffing them up!”

“What are they, chanel?”

“Shut the fuck up, Jean,” he scowled, taking a long sip of his milkshake, “I would never buy chanel.”

Mikasa started chuckling and Sasha finally looked up from where she was digging into Connie’s fries, “You don’t buy chanel?”

“No.”

We all exchanged confused looks across the table and suddenly burst out laughing, Eren included. At least it pulled the attention away from the whole footsie incident. I peeked back up at Armin who was still giggling beside Mikasa, cheeks flushed and lips pulled into that quirky smile I’d gotten used to seeing now. The corners of his mouth were upturned but teeth rarely ever showing unless he laughed or spoke. He caught me staring and glanced away from me bashfully. I got that funny feeling in my chest again.

“You guys wanna head out after this?” Mikasa asked, “It’s nearly nine o’clock.”

“No way!” Eren said, leaning forward to shove his remaining fries into his mouth, “We haven’t showed them the arcade!”

“That’s right,” Armin added, resting his arms on the table, “The arcade is always super fun!”

“Probably just cause you kick ass at all of the games,” Eren mumbled under his breath, but he said it fondly never the less, “That’s only why you say that.”

Armin shrugged tucked one side of his hair behind his ear, “It sure is.”

We all laughed again and finally removed ourselves from the booth. Mikasa apologized to the waitress about the noise and we left in a pleasant mood, talking about our favourite drinks.

\----------------------------

The arcade wasn’t exactly huge but there were a lot of machines lined up everywhere. Sasha immediately ran towards the Dance Revolution game sitting in the corner, dragging Historia along with her. I played a couple of racing games with Connie and I heard Eren scream in anguish when Armin defeated his character in Tekken 2. Mikasa spent the first few minutes watching Sasha and Historia jumping off rhythm to the music before joining in herself, we all huddled around to watch her when she leveled up for the eighth time. It looked like she wanted to shout profanities at the machine when she lost the round, jumping off of the arrows on the ground before sulking against the metal bars at the back.

“I totally had that down.”

“Better luck next time,” Historia said, patting her on the shoulder.

“Hey!” Eren shouted from across the room, pointing towards a neon orange photo booth in the corner, “Let’s take some pictures!”

“Oh, Jean look,” Connie snickered, “Something you can actually do.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I grumbled, smacking the back of his head in annoyance, “At least I know I’m hot as fuck.”

Sasha started laughing and Mikasa raised both of her eyebrows in response, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the booth. The rest of the group followed quickly behind and soon enough all seven of us were trying to squash our way into the booth, and failed miserably at doing so.

“Since Historia is the smallest, she should sit on the seat,” Armin reasoned, “And then I’ll squash beside the wall next to her.”

“That sounds fine,” Mikasa replied as Historia stepped inside the booth to sit down, “Maybe we should have the taller people at the back, so Connie could stand on the other side of Historia and the rest of us could just try and fit in somewhere behind.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he shrugged and stepped into the machine, alongside Connie who didn’t look too pleased about being called short.

The rest of us squeezed into the machine with Eren behind Armin, Sasha beside him, Mikasa next to her, and with me directly behind Connie and half of my body sticking outside of the booth. I guess this worked out a lot better than what we tried out the first time.

“So who the hell is keeping the photos?” Connie asked, digging his pointy ass elbows into my stomach.

“I didn’t think of that,” Eren replied, resting his chin on top of Armin’s head. Eren was back to wearing Mikasa’s hat and even I had to admit that it did go pretty well with his get up. 

We all offered in a few suggestions and finally concluded that Mikasa should get to keep them since it was her idea to go bowling in the first place. Setting up the machine was a lot more annoying than I remembered it being the last time I used one of these things. Marco and I used to go to the mall all the time to use them when we were fifteen and going through our “selfie phase.” Oh lord, did I wish I could forget that godforsaken “selfie phase.”

Sasha kept trying to press buttons on the screen from over Historia’s head and fortunately this worked out pretty alright, as our faces appeared a couple of seconds later with a timer. Historia clicked the large OK.

In the first picture we were all pulling stupid faces, most of them unprepared because Connie stepped on my shoe and Eren was still trying to get his hat into the “perfect position.” 

The next was a little better and we were all somewhat smiling, I think. We took three more and all of them were just us pulling what we thought were funny expressions but on the last countdown Historia stopped us.

“The final picture always has to be nice,” she said.

We all smiled properly this time and I had to admit, when we received the pictures from the side of the machine I felt pretty fucking good about myself.

“Everyone is so good looking!” Sasha cried, holding the photos up to the light. She handed them to Mikasa and she did one of those rare smiles of hers, pressing the photos to her chest.

“I love them,” she whispered, “Thank you, guys.”

Of course you do, you beautiful angel.

“Hey, do you wanna head out now?” Eren asked, nudging Mikasa’s arm. She nodded and Armin led the way back out with all of us huddled back into our coats and scarves.

The street was darker than it had been when we’d arrived and I was glad for the calm the cold created as we walked along the pavement. We had begun talking amongst ourselves again and walking back to Eren’s house suddenly didn’t seem quite as unpleasant as I had originally thought it would be. We had only been walking for a good ten minutes before the sky crackled and it started to rain, which was kind of expected. This was Trost after all.

At first we ignored it, most of us pulling up the hoods of our jackets and Historia even pulled out an umbrella from her bag, what a life saver, right?

But then it started to pour and we figured we’d shelter somewhere in the park until it was over. Which was fine by me, ya know? Just fan-fucking-tastic.

“So this fucking sucks,” Connie muttered from underneath his hood when we all found refuge underneath a large tree, “Whose idea was it to leave the cars behind again?”

“I already told you the roads were too icy,” Mikasa hissed back at him from where her face was buried underneath Eren’s jacket, “How was I supposed to know that it was going to rain?”

“You could have checked the weather forecast,” Armin answered seriously. Sometimes I had to wonder if he actually understood the definition of a _rhetorical_ question.

Mikasa sighed and pulled him closer to herself and Eren. The three of them were huddled together while the rest of us just stood around aimlessly, observing the four wonders of Trost’s central park. Yeah, this was the entirety of fun.

Number uno was this weird ass statue of some old guy with a terrible bowl cut, standing at the centre of the fountain (of which was considered landmark number two for some fucking ridiculous reason). There was also a really gross mossy swing set that hasn’t been touched in what looked like decades. And last and most of all least, there was this freaky ass hole in the ground that looked like some sort of deformed face and it was fucking terrifying, alright? The longer I looked at it, the more I just wanted to get out of here.

It didn’t look like the rain was going to let up and part of me just wanted to get away from this crappy excuse of a shelter and face the music. My more sensible side however, warned me that if I tried to run all the way to the nearest bus stop, I’d probably slip and die.

“Fucking hell!” I spat, kicking a pebble into the grass, “I knew I should have brought my fucking car!”

Sasha wailed into her hands and Connie stroked her back soothingly. If those two weren’t laughing about something we were obviously in deep fucking shit.

“Hey!” Eren called from where he was standing with Armin and Mikasa, “How about you tone your asshole level down just a notch? You aren’t the only one that’s pissed off!”

“What?” I chuckled humourlessly, digging my hands into my pockets to search for some source of warmth, “It’s like minus two degrees out and now you wanna start acting like Mr. nice guy!?”

“I’m just fucking saying-,” Eren snarled, “that Sasha’s crying and Mikasa’s upset so can you stop being a douche!? Even just for a minute, that would be lovely, thanks.”

I heard Sasha sniffle loudly and Historia frowned. Well, this was a shitty end to a pretty good day.

Armin lifted his head from where it was resting against Eren’s shoulder and broke out of their strange formation. Completely ignoring Mikasa’s concerned calls to come back. He stopped just before the rain and exhaled loudly, pulling the hood of his oversized parka over his head before peering down at his hands.

Eren shot me a dirty look and I shrugged in response, not knowing what I was supposed to do. Armin hadn’t looked up yet.

“Sorry,” I mumbled apologetically as I stepped over to stand beside him, “I didn’t mean to - whatever.”

“That’s fine,” Armin replied, tracing the lines on the palm of his hand with his fingers, “I was just getting kind of bored of standing there.”

“-Oh, okay,” I muttered, watching the way he ran his fingers gently over his wrist, “Are - uh-”

He peered up at me curiously.

“Are they cold?” I finally got out, “Your hands, I mean.”

He nodded and I reached out hesitantly, running my fingers along his palms the same way he had. His breath hitched and I reasoned with myself that it was dark enough that no one would be able to see what was going on. They were all hovering beside the trunk of the tree and Armin was still silent, so I tried my best not to look nervous. I was only doing this because he was obviously cold and I was cold too and haha, isn’t body warmth supposed to work well at times like these?

I could feel the spit of rain on my cheeks and while we weren’t getting the brunt of the weather, the wind wasn’t really doing us any favours. Armin shivered but leaned into the touch, grasping both of my hands in his and squeezing them when a harsh breeze rushed by, plastering his now sopping wet hair against his flushed cheeks. This was really weird. Should I even be doing this?

“You’re so warm,” he whispered, blinking up at me owlishly, “Like a furnace.”

I almost started laughing out of embarrassment but instead I resisted the urge, opting to shyly lace his fingers with mine, “Yeah.”

His hands were freezing but mine also felt cold, despite what he had said about them giving off heat. I watched his face for a couple of seconds but the dark made everything appear blurry, albeit the flush of his cheeks from the cold and the puffiness of his lips. I could still see how watery his blue eyes had gotten but I didn’t say anything, otherwise deciding to pull him closer.

It wasn’t exactly a hug but it wasn’t far off. It was more just an awkward arrangement of limbs to be fair. The palms of his hands were still pressed against mine so we weren’t exactly not touching, the tips of our shoes only inches apart.

“Hey!”

We quickly jumped away from each other and turned to stare back at Historia, who was pointing off towards the sky.

“The rain is starting to let up!” she grinned, lifting her purple umbrella higher over her head, “You guys ready for round two?”

“Get me the fuck out of here!” Sasha screamed, running to join Historia under the umbrella, “That creepy hole over there is what nightmares are made of!”

Eren ran up to where we were standing and grabbed Armin’s hand, pulling him away towards where Historia was waiting. I followed behind slowly.

Historia handed the umbrella to Eren and he held it up high, covering up most of our bodies but not all, there were seven of us for fucksake. We all shuffled along the path together and as soon as we’d stepped out of the park I couldn’t give a fuck about how wet my hair was getting anymore. Sasha’s fringe was laying flat across her forehead and Armin’s was starting to curl up at the front.

What the hell was that just now? What possessed me to even grab his hands like that?

What was he thinking about? Did he think I was being creepy?

I glanced down at him but he seemed to be zoned out, staring off towards the small houses lined up along the street.

No. He was probably used to stuff like that. Eren and Mikasa did it all the time. Wasn’t Eren holding his hand right now? Yeah. Yeah!

It was totally normal for friends to hold hands in the cold.

Yup.

Sasha sniffled again and I suddenly felt like the biggest jerk in the world. Here I was thinking about myself for the millionth fucking time yet again. Maybe Eren was right for once, though I think I had to tone my douchebag level down a lot more than a freaking notch. 

I wrapped my arm around Sasha’s shoulders and she glanced up at me, obviously surprised by my sudden display of affection.

“Sorry,” I whispered into her hair and she nodded slowly, smiling fondly when I gently tugged her ponytail.

\----------------------------

We all made it back to Eren’s house in one piece and it honestly felt like the biggest relief. My car was still parked outside but he insisted we all come inside to stay the night. We argued for about a minute but I finally agreed once I heard the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance.

“My dad’s not here right now,” he said, pulling off Mikasa’s hat and placing it on the countertop as we all entered the kitchen, sopping wet, “You guys can dry off in the living room, I’ll get some towels.”

Well, hello to you too, social etiquette. It was quite nice of you to join us.

We all took our shoes off to keep mud from staining the floor but our socks were still dripping wet. And that didn’t feel all too awesome with the cold ass marble floor beneath my feet, thank you very much.

Eren came back with a basket full of towels and dropped them on the floor beside us before pulling out a small bottle of vodka.

“Since you’re all staying the night and this is in fact, a parent free zone,” he waggled his eyebrows, placing the bottle on the couch, “I thought we could play a couple of drinking games.”

“Where the hell did you get that!?” Connie asked, running a towel along his shaved head.

“My dad’s liquor cabinet, duh.”

Connie still looked surprised but soon enough we’d all dried off and were seated in a circle in the centre of the living room. Mikasa had borrowed one of Eren’s shirts as her own button up had become too see-through and Eren had changed into a pair of orange pyjama pants and a regular black tee, the lucky bastard.

“Okay, so what now?” Historia asked and Eren shrugged.

“We drink,” he responded, twisting off the lid of the bottle before taking a quick sip. He gagged and I burst out laughing.

“Nice one, Jaeger,” I grinned and he offered me the bottle from across the circle.

I reached out hesitantly to take it from him, sniffing the clear liquid before placing the top of the bottle to my lips. Everyone was waiting silently for me to drink it so I did, taking a much larger sip than Eren.

I hissed when I felt the liquid burn at the back of my throat and sucked in my lips to mask the pain, “That wasn’t that bad.”

Mikasa reached out for the bottle next and soon it was being passed around the circle. Stopping however, when it got to Historia.

“I don’t drink,” she said, passing the bottle back to Eren who just shrugged in response.

We decided to start off with a good old fashioned game of truth or dare. Penalty was that you had to take another much longer sip from the bottle.

“Connie, truth or dare,” Eren slurred, he was on his fifth sip by now and he didn’t exactly look that well off.

“Truth,” Connie snickered, not having lost yet.

“Have you, haha…Have you kissed anyone in this room?”

Sasha screamed and buried her face in her hands when Eren started laughing, waggling his finger between the two. She revealed her face a few seconds later and she was bright red, laughing hysterically. Connie groaned.

“He kissed Jean!” she barely got out, pounding her fist on the floor, “Jean was his first kiss, haha-”

“Shut up, Sasha, holy shit!” Connie exclaimed, and I hid my face behind my hands. This was so fucking embarrassing.

I peeked at him through my fingers and Eren let out a loud screech and fell to the floor laughing, burying his face in Armin’s jeans, “-Holy motherfucking shit!”

Even Mikasa looked surprised, fuck fuck fuck.

“I will not be able to rest until I find out how this went down,” she said, taking a sip of the water she’d taken out of her bag.

“Yeah, spill the beans, man,” Historia chipped in, placing her elbows on her knees and tucking her hands underneath her chin eagerly, “Otherwise it’s a penalty.”

“-What!?” Connie’s face had gone red, “The question was answered!”

“Yes, but Sasha answered for you,” Armin input, smiling that quirky smile of his, “So you either tell us yourself or…”

Mikasa shook the almost empty bottle of vodka.

“Fine, fucking hell.”

They all cheered and I scowled. What incredible friends you have, Jean. Wow.

“So we were in school,” Connie sighed, “And it was just me, Jean and Sasha hanging out like we always did…”

Armin nodded and he continued. Ugh.

“So we are bunking off third period because you know, lessons were boring as hell, and we are all like, playing cards or something - I don’t even know. But the bell rang and we all got up to leave before anybody got there and I slipped on some random tree root and…” He tipped his head to signal that the rest was self explanatory and Eren burst out laughing again.

“For fucksake,” I grumbled, snatching the bottle off of him and taking a large sip, “Burn this memory from my brain.”

“How could you guys keep this to yourself all this time?” Armin asked curiously.

“I was told to keep it on the hush hush,” Sasha whispered and I covered her mouth with my hand.

“Okay,” I said, “I think that’s enough truth or dare.” 

I wanted to melt into the floor. How was Mikasa ever going to take me seriously now? Thanks a whole fucking bunch, Connie. Eren was still laughing like a maniac and I could hear Historia giggling beside him as she pulled her long blonde hair out of her hairband and slipped it onto her wrist.

“The bottle is nearly empty now,” Armin suddenly said, pulling it out of my grasp and cradling it in his lap.

“Wanna play spin the bottle?” Eren giggled, taking it from him and draining down the last few drops. He stuck out his tongue in disgust and placed it in the centre.

“Uh, I have a girlfriend,” Historia chuckled, patting Eren’s shoulder when he sat back down properly, “So I’ll probably sit out this one, bro.”

He nodded and glanced around at the rest of us for permission to continue. Armin and Connie both looked hesitant but they agreed to play anyhow. This was probably my only ever chance to get a kiss from Mikasa. Of course I was fucking in.

Everyone stared intensely down at the bottle when Historia reached out and gave it a hard spin. We all watched carefully and I prayed internally that I’d get who I was hoping for. It was no secret that I still liked Mikasa, but after years of wistfully chasing after her we’d decided that friendship worked just fine. Well, for now. I hadn’t given up just yet. Maybe this was just the chance I had been waiting for.

The bottle landed on Sasha first. She looked ecstatic and even reached out to spin the bottle for the second time herself. It landed on Mikasa (what are the odds) and the brunette leaned in with zero hesitation. She squealed when Mikasa pressed her lips against hers and Eren and Historia burst out laughing for what was probably the twentieth time that night.

It landed on Eren the second time and then Mikasa - again!? Come on! Seriously?

He kissed her chastely and everyone _aww’d_ oh yeah, this is real cute, this right here. Fuck you, Jaeger. And you too, Sasha - this was betrayal at it’s finest.

Eren span the bottle and it landed on himself, again. He looked around and started snickering. Because oh yeah, who wouldn’t want to kiss him, like the entirety of fucking world. 

Okay, jealous, sarcastic brain, it’s time to tone it the fuck down.

I heard Armin giggle and zoned back into reality. What the heck was so funny? I looked down at the bottle but everyone except Eren was laughing now.

Fuck.

“Pucker up, Jean, don’t look so freaked out,” Eren teased as he crawled towards me.

“Hell to the no,” I scowled, grabbing him by the shoulders to ward him off, “No fucking way!”

“Do you wanna drop out?” Historia snickered from where she sat beside Armin, “Cause you totally can, no pressure.”

But if I dropped out now, I wouldn’t get a chance to kiss Mikasa.

Looks like I’m just going to have to suck it the fuck up.

“Do your worst,” I replied and Eren grinned.

“Don’t worry, I will.”

I heard a couple of loud _Ooo’s_ in the background when Eren tilted his head forward and pressed his lips against mine. They were soft and wet and slid against mine with ease. He hummed and I gripped his jaw with my hand and guided his lips properly to avoid making a stop off at saliva city. Yeesh. And though I’d never ever admit it out loud, I could definitely not deny that he was a pretty awesome kisser. And this only made it just that little bit more humiliating.

I felt his tongue slide against my lips and hey, I’m not going to lie - I might of opened my mouth…just a little.

He moved forward to press his hands against my thighs and someone squealed in the background. I pushed him away, scandalized.

“Yeah, that’s enough of that,” I grumbled, wiping my hand across my mouth before glaring red faced at the rest of the group.

Historia booed and Eren seemed unphased but Armin and Mikasa however, looked like they both wanted to say something in response to whatever the hell that was.

“I am so turned on right now,” Sasha whispered and Connie burst out laughing, breaking the silence.

Eren and I started to join in and soon all of us were wheezing with laughter on the marble floor of Eren’s living room.

“Maybe-” Historia huffed between breaths, “Maybe, we should end the game here-”

Armin looked slightly relieved and Mikasa nodded, picking the bottle off of the ground before standing up and heading towards the kitchen. Eren got up to follow her and the rest of stayed giggling on the carpet like a bunch of morons.

“So,” Armin grinned, stretching out his legs, “That was fun.”

I nodded and Sasha clutched her stomach and groaned. Please don’t throw up, please don’t throw up.

“I feel really dizzy,” she mumbled, “I’m gonna go to the bathroom, Connie help.”

They both stumbled off together, leaving Armin, Historia, and I alone.

Historia glanced back and forth between the both of us and smiled, “I don’t think I’ve ever been alone with you two before.”

“No,” Armin shook his head, “I don’t think so either.”

Geez, man. He always answered everything so seriously.

Historia looked like she was going to say something else but Eren and Mikasa suddenly appeared from the hallway, carrying an armful each of blankets and pillows.

“We decided that since Mikasa and Armin were going to stay over anyway that they can sleep in my room,” Eren said, gesturing with his head for Armin to stand up, “Historia you can sleep in the guest room and uh, Jean…”

I narrowed my eyes. Here we go.

“You can sleep in the lounge at the back with Connie and Sasha, if you don’t mind.”

I shrugged and he threw the blankets my way, uncaring that they dropped at least three feet away from where I was sitting. What an asshole.

“Where are the others?” Mikasa asked, peering back out into the hallway.

“Sasha went to the bathroom and Connie went to make sure that she was okay,” Historia replied, standing up from the ground and offering both Armin and I a hand to stand up.

I complied and forced myself off of the floor. My ass was hurting severely. Who the hell designed this room in the first place?

Once we’d all said goodnight to each other, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa walked off to escort Historia towards the guest room, leaving me the job of finding out where the hell Sasha and Connie went. I finally found both of them in the bathroom on the ground floor, Sasha was leaning over the toilet bowl and Connie was holding her hair back. Gross.

“We’re in the lounge,” I said to Connie and he nodded, knowing exactly where to go.

I threw the blankets onto the couch and sat down on the edge, smiling a little fondly to myself. This was the same couch I bumped into Armin behind, nearly four weeks ago.

I peered around the back and grinned, it was still in the same position Armin had pushed it in in order to squeeze himself behind it. The whole thing was pretty laughable now I thought about it. Cause, oh ya know. We met behind a fucking couch hiding from the exact same person. What are the odds?

“What are you doing?”

I jumped and Connie raised an eyebrow at me, “We have to let Sasha have the couch man, get off.”

“Oh- Oh, right,” I jumped up and pulled the blankets back, “Sorry.”

I helped him lay Sasha down properly and brought a bin over from across the room, just in case. It didn’t take her very long to fall asleep and Connie and I sat in front of the large window across the room, talking quietly amongst ourselves. The rest of the room was dark but I didn’t think I could fall asleep just yet, my head was already starting to hurt. Connie looked like he wanted to say something personal but instead he just kept telling me all of these terrible one-liners. He’d always get the same look on his face when he did, like he wanted to puke. And it made me mildly uncomfortable, not knowing what to say to him.

“Was it weird kissing Eren?” he suddenly asked and my eyebrows shot up. Where the hell did that come from? Wasn’t he just talking about pigs skin or something!?

“Are you asking if I liked it or if it felt gross like, internally?” I replied, unsure.

“I dunno, both?”

“Uhh…” I bit my thumbnail in thought, “It was alright? Like the actual kissing part. But I didn’t feel anything specifically, if that’s what you’re asking.”

He furrowed his barely-there eyebrows and crossed his arms over his chest, “So it was more of a casual drunk makeout?”

“Yeah, I guess…Why do you wanna know so badly?”

He paused.

“Just wonderin’”

Okay, so even I knew that sort of reply was total bullshit. I mean, who just asks a question like that out of the blue?

“Just wondering?”

He sighed loudly and buried his face in his hands. What the hell? Did I say something wrong? He looked like he wanted to puke again and I scooted away just a fraction, unsure if he was actually going to throw up.

“Sasha kissed me.”

What?

“WHAT!?”

“ _Not so loud!_ ” he hissed, covering my mouth with his hand when Sasha groaned a little in her sleep and turned over to face the back of the couch, “It happened in the hallway when I was helping her to the bathroom-”

“No fucking way man,” I whispered back through his fingers, trying to get a better look at his face. He seemed to be more confused than I was about this whole situation.

“Yeah - Yes fucking way, man,” he sighed and removed his hand, sitting back against the window and looking out into the darkness again, “And now I’m feeling all this shit that I’ve never felt before and I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do.”

“It could be the alcohol,” I suggested, matching his position against the glass.

“I don’t know man, I don’t think so, just-” he rubbed his eyes tiredly, “Just don’t mention it tomorrow or any day after that, okay? I just felt like I needed to tell someone before the whole concept consumed me or whatever.”

I nodded and stood up, offering out a hand to help him up. He took it and I closed the curtains, shrouding the room in complete darkness.

“We should probably get some sleep.”

He nodded gloomily and I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “Don’t think too hard about it, okay man?”

He still looked uneasy about it but I didn’t know what else I could do to help the situation. This was Sasha we were talking about. Our _best friend_ , Sasha.

“Yeah, cool. Cool,” Connie shrugged it off, smiling at the gesture. He walked off towards the other side of the room where he‘d put down his stuff and called quietly back to me before settling down, “Thanks for trying. I know you find it hard to be nice to people.”

“I do my best,” I grinned, heading towards the armchair in the corner where I’d left my own things, “Goodnight, asshole.”

“Goodnight, you giant prat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bwahahaa.


	5. Angel Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shopping spree?

Man, did I feel like shit.

I’d woken up to the sound of my phone alarm and I shut it off miserably, knowing that I would have to get up sooner or later. I fumbled with the device for a couple of seconds and Sasha groaned before rolling completely off of the couch. She tumbled lazily onto her side and let out a loud yelp, hitting the carpet in a flurry of blankets and cushions but hey, what was new? I could still hear Connie snoring from across the room and I dragged myself off of the old leather armchair that was now sticky with sweat for some reason. Why was I still sweating when it was like zero degrees out? Ugh.

Sasha spat something into the bin and I screwed up my face in disgust. This is not your house, bloody hell, get some manners.

“What time is it?” she mumbled from underneath the large duvet cover. I rubbed my eyes and dug my fingers into the armrest for a second longer, trying to compose myself.

“It’s only 11AM,” I sighed, nudging her with my foot. Fuck, I felt so nauseous, “Get the hell up.”

She whined and I sat down on the couch, trying to control the bubbling in my stomach. Connie was still completely knocked out but Sasha wiggled around from where she was sprawled out on the floor in front of my feet.

“I feel like I’m going to be sick.”

“Well that makes two of us then,” I grumbled in response when I saw her arm reach out of her bundle of blankets to grab any remaining cushions on the couch. I kicked it away and she slapped my leg in return, obviously not awake enough to put up a fight.

Though I hardly was either. I groaned and made a grab for the bin.

Sasha finally poked her head out from underneath her safe haven as I proceeded to puke out my fucking guts. The back of my throat burned and I spat the remains of whatever had been lingering there into the bin. Connie finally cracked an eye open from where he was lying on the rug and shot me a look of disgust.

“Ew.”

“Shut your face,” I mumbled, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. Ugh, I needed to get this taste off of my tongue asap.

Sasha sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her fringe was stuck to her forehead with sweat and the skin on the left side of her face was red from where she must have been sleeping on it last night. She gagged and grabbed the bin from where I’d left it on the couch and I finally stood up, still feeling slightly disorientated but still not wanting to be around when she barfed again.

I went to the bathroom to wash out my mouth. Scowling at my own bed head in the mirror. Maybe I should just shave it all off like Connie, that would be one for the books.

Haha, yeah nah, I was totally gorgeous.

I wet my face and ran a hand through my unruly hair, hoping the smell of puke wasn’t too pungent on my breath cause that shit was just plain nasty. I rubbed my eyes again and wiped my face on one of Eren’s towels, praying that it was clean which knowing him, it probably wasn’t.

I wondered for a second if Connie was alright with being alone with Sasha after what happened last night but then concluded that it wasn’t really my problem. I mean, sure they were both my friends but Connie had told me to keep it on the hush anyway. So I figured he could just sort it out on his own accord.

I could hear laughing from one of the rooms around the corner so I stretched and headed on over there, only to find Armin and Mikasa lounging on the couch in front of the TV in the living room. Both of them were wearing a new set of clothes and I lingered by the door for a second, waiting to be addressed.

“Sleep well?” Mikasa asked after a few seconds of silence, not even looking up as she grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl in her lap. Who the hell even eats popcorn at 11AM?

“Pretty terribly, actually” I mumbled back, still not entirely awake. I sat down in the space between them and Mikasa finally looked up, raising one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows when we made eye contact.

“Nice stubble,” she snickered, reaching out to rub my face and I leaned sideways to avoid it, electing a small squeak out of Armin when I accidentally knocked him with my shoulder, “You should grow it out.”

“Yeah, no thanks,” I sighed, rubbing my eyes before glancing over towards the blond. He had scooted all the way over to the other side of the couch with a cushion tucked underneath his chin, eyes trained on the TV.

It was some deep sea documentary that didn’t seem entirely interesting at all and he remained completely silent as Mikasa and I continued poking fun at each other.

“How the hell are you guys into this stuff?” I asked, when I realized he was still ignoring me. Snatching up a handful of popcorn before Mikasa could pull the bowl away, “Fishes are so dull.”

Armin finally tore his eyes away from the TV and shot me a dirty look, “Fishes are not dull.”

I raised an eyebrow and he sat back, still looking at me as if I had said something that had personally offended him, “It’s not just about fishes, Jean. It’s about discovery. The ocean is so vast and we know so little about it, there are even certain depths to it that- that are impossible for us to explore!” he exclaimed, gesturing wildly with his hands, “Aren’t you even a little curious about what’s down there?”

I shrugged and he rolled his eyes and looked back towards the television, obviously not pleased with my response, “Well, maybe _these_ fishes bore you but what about the ones we haven’t discovered yet? You must have seen all the freaky, alien looking ones down in the deep sea?”

“What like anglerfish and shit like that?” I mumbled, following his gaze back towards the TV just as a large, brightly colored fish swept across the ocean floor, “Hasn’t everyone?”

“Most people, yes,” he replied, crossing his legs on the couch, “But imagine what is lurking further underwater…creatures that are so unreal, even more alien to us. Things- things completely unfathomable!”

He finally glanced up at me and I flinched, startled by the intensity of his gaze. When he put it like that it did sound a lot more interesting. He was so weirdly passionate about it. Mikasa hummed and drummed her fingers along the end of the couch. She had been so quiet through Armin’s explanation that I had forgotten she was there.

“I have always wondered about that too,” she said, leaning forward in her seat to catch his eye, “It’s a very engaging topic.”

“There has actually been a lot of debate on what people think is down there,” he responded, lips pulling up into a small smile, “But, though I’m very curious, I don’t think I would ever have the courage to go down there myself.”

He laughed softly and I couldn’t help but notice how melodic it sounded. Like a song.

He shifted slightly I started to get that funny feeling again. The one that was homing itself in my chest and starting to become a little bit too familiar every time I met his gaze.

Maybe I did drink a little too much last night after all.

Armin tucked a few strands of wispy blond hair behind his small ears and I couldn’t help but admire how delicately it framed his face, brushing against his chin when he suddenly bobbed his head to look down at his hands. And his jaw line was soft, I noted, though still defined and not entirely feminine. 

I don’t think I’d ever seen his face at this particular angle.

There was even a small scar beside his ear that I hadn’t seen before and I resisted the urge to reach out and touch it. He had an entirely different type of beauty to Mikasa. She was elegant and statuesque whereas he was dainty and soft looking and…God, what’s the word?

So…

“Ethereal.”

Armin rose an eyebrow in confusion, “Ethereal?”

Shit. Shit.

“You- uh-”

“Me?”

I could feel my face start to heat up in embarrassment and I could see that he was similarly as red, judging by the way he was covering his face with his hands. I heard Mikasa laugh but I didn’t know how to respond. Why the hell would I say that out loud!? I’m such a fucking moron-

“I think Jean was just lost in his thoughts,” she chuckled, glancing over at Armin who now had half of his face buried into the cushion he was originally clutching against his chest, “He probably wasn’t listening.”

I nodded furiously and he exhaled loudly, un-tucking one side of his hair from behind his ear, “Sorry, of course you didn’t mean me-” he replied, dropping the pillow into his lap, “That was a silly assumption. Now I‘ve made things awkward. Great.”

“Sorry.”

Nice one, Jean, so sincere. Yeah, real freaking smooth.

“I didn’t think you were the type to talk dictionary, Jean,” Mikasa added smugly before I could get another word in, “I’ve never heard you use a word like that before.”

I rose an eyebrow but she had focused her attention back onto the TV. Oh yeah, that was real funny.

“I did go to school, I’ll have you know,” I teased in return, easing the tension a little bit, “And where did you go again…ummm… Shingan _snoozer_ , Shingan _loser?_ ”

“It was Shinganshina,” she grinned, whacking me on the side with a cushion, “Asshole.”

Armin chuckled but he didn’t say much else after that exchange. Both of us equally as embarrassed to look at each other after that whole “misunderstanding.”

Ughhh, I’m a huge douche. When I said sorry he probably felt really shitty.

The silence was so uncomfortable that I even felt slightly relieved when Eren waltzed into the room around five minutes later, fully clothed with Historia in tow. 

“We’re going to the mall,” Eren hummed, leaning against the doorway. His hair was spiked up at the front and his eyes were smothered in his signature coal black eyeliner. Historia’s own makeup was very similar but hers looked about a thousand times neater.

The pair looked like they were spontaneously about to show up at a Metallica concert let alone a mall.

“You guys wanna jam?” Historia asked. What the hell does jam mean? Is that some sort of new lingo for ‘hang out?’ Woe is me, I’ll never be down with the cool kids.

“I’m good,” Mikasa replied, eyes still trained on the TV while her hand searched around inside of the near empty bowl of popcorn.

I still had some money on me from last night and I was planning to go buy some new art supplies anyway so I guess it couldn‘t hurt, “Sure.”

Historia clapped her hands together and I saw Mikasa roll her eyes.

“Armin is definitely coming,” Eren grinned, running over to pull said boy off of the couch, “Historia and I agreed to get you some new clothes!”

“What’s wrong with the clothes I’m wearing now?” Armin frowned, looking down at his baggy blue jeans and sweater combo. He looked genuinely confused.

Oh great, here we go.

“Nothing! Nothing!” Historia chipped in quickly before rushing over to Eren’s side, hands hovering hesitantly over Armin’s shoulders as a gesture that was probably meant to be reassuring, “They just look a little…uh…”

“Worn.”

“ _Eren!_ ” she hissed, “That was not subtle at all!”

“He asked a question so I answered it!” Eren shot back, unphased, “Armin…”

The blond wrapped his arms around himself self-consciously.

“…You’ve been wearing the same clothes for years now. It’s about time we got you some new ones.”

“Well, what if he doesn’t want new ones?” Mikasa input from beside me, crossing her arms over her chest, “He can wear whatever the hell he wants.”

“Mikasa!” Armin exclaimed, eyes tracing the pattern of the floor, “It’s okay… I just need to go home and grab some money and I can come straight-”

“Oh, no,” Historia interrupted, grabbing Armin by the shoulders, “No, no, no, no, no! I’m paying, my treat.”

Armin’s eyebrows shot up and he stared back at Historia, wide eyed, “You can’t do that!”

“Dude,” she reached into the pocket of her polka dot black dress and pulled out her wallet, slipping out a card and waving it in front of his face, “I’ve got more than enough cash to spend.”

He looked down in defeat and Mikasa looked like she was going to say something else but I grabbed her arm to stop her and she shot me a dangerous glare, obviously not pleased about the situation.

“Alright!” Eren fist pumped and grabbed Armin’s hand, pulling him away from us and into the hallway.

Historia looked my way and nodded towards the door.

Oh. Right.

I sighed and took my time getting up. Mikasa looked fed up so I didn’t think saying goodbye would be all that necessary. She was still silent when I walked out into the hallway, grabbing my jacket from yesterday off of the coat rack near where the others were waiting.

Eren was still clasping Armin’s hand in his and I looked away quickly, opting to help Historia unclasp the latch on the door where she had trouble reaching it.

“Can we take your car?” Eren whispered into my ear as soon as we’d stepped outside and I paused.

He still looked as serious as ever and I narrowed my eyes at him. That was probably the only reason why they even asked me to come in the first place. Historia was now staring up at me with puppy dog eyes too and I couldn’t exactly say no to that, I mean come on. I’m a bit of a dick but I’m not downright evil.

I unlocked my car and we all clambered inside, taking my usual place behind the wheel with Historia sitting beside me in the passenger seat. We made pleasant conversation on the way there, with Armin and Eren chatting together happily in the back. Why couldn’t Eren get his own stupid car to drive him to the mall? He probably has enough cash saved up. Asshole. 

I squinted at him in the rearview mirror and sighed in irritation. He was still clinging to Armin like a leech and it kind of ticked me off. Was personal space still a thing nowadays or is it just me?

Historia stopped halfway through whatever she was saying and shot me a strange look. Shit, she probably thought I was a bad driver. Keep your eyes on the fucking road, Jean.

She glanced wordlessly back at the others for about a second but soon enough I could feel her blue eyes burning a hole into the side of my face again.

“You okay?” I asked carefully and I saw her nod, tilting her head to the side casually.

“Jus’ thinking.”

“About what?” Eren finally butt in after his thousand year conversation with Armin.

“Stuff.”

Armin leaned forward in his seat, now curious, “What kind of stuff?”

“Relationship stuff.”

“What?” Eren frowned, “Like right now? Really?”

She laughed and sat back in her seat properly while Eren tried to peer round at her like an overeager puppy. Why would she bring up something like that? First Connie and now Historia. I prayed internally that I wasn’t going to be in for another shocking confession.

“Did I ever tell you about my girlfriend, Ymir?” she finally replied, turning her head to the side so she could speak to them, “How we met?”

Armin and Eren shook their heads and I rose an eyebrow, still concentrating on the road. Was she talking about this before I zoned out? I cursed myself for not listening, I thought it had been mostly small talk. 

“You said something about her once but never about how you guys met,” Eren said, sitting back in his seat.

I looked around for a parking space as we rolled up towards the giant centre building. Why the hell did I agree to do this? Why didn’t I just stay on the couch with the beautiful Mikasa where it was nice, and calm, and not freezing cold? What the hell is wrong with me!?

“Well it’s actually a pretty funny story,” Historia continued, running her fingers through her ponytail, “We met at an underwear store somewhere downtown and hit it off right away.”

There was silence for a couple of seconds before I burst out laughing. Historia jumped slightly in her seat but that just made it harder for me to stop, “It’s quite uncanny,” I said, smiling now, “Do you always meet people in shops?”

She opened her mouth to reply but it took her a while to come up with anything, crossing her arms over her chest before frowning in defeat, “No - just, no okay. I don’t! I thought it was just an iconic, romantic story for the future! More romantic than meeting people behind couches…”

I scowled.

“Yeah but it’s cool, man. That was a friend thing,” Eren jumped in before I could say anything, “Jean hasn’t got any real romantic stories because he hasn’t found…” he sighed dramatically and placed a hand over his heart, “…The one!”

“Shut the hell up!” I said, feeling my face heat up, “What do you know about romance anyway, Jaeger!?”

“Absolutely nothing,” he grinned, “Just the way I like it-”

“Jean, there’s a parking spot over there,” Armin interjected. I didn’t even have to look at him to know that he had probably had enough of this conversation.

He leaned forward and pointed towards a place close to the mall. Hell yeah, I am finally free from this car full of lunatics.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, trying to focus on not killing us all when Eren started laughing again.

Luckily enough, we all made it to the mall in one piece and I spent the next hour being dragged into shops I didn’t even know existed in the first place. Who the hell’s idea was it to create a store for “goth-only” handbags? Was this like the weird unknown part of the mall? I felt kind of relieved that I wasn’t the only one who looked out of place. Armin was at my side, looking absolutely repulsed by everything we passed by.

“Enjoying the designer handbags?” I whispered jokingly and he rolled his eyes, pulling his satchel closer to his side as we squeezed past one of the multiple dagger-shaped clothing racks.

He shot me an irritated look and I wiggled my eyebrows back at him.

“Yes, actually,” he grinned falsely as we stopped to watch Eren and Historia wrestle over a pair of boots beside the counter, “I’m enjoying the scenery very much so.”

I rose an eyebrow and he stared right back up at me, expression as serious as ever.

“Is that right?”

He shook his head and laughed into his hand, “This place is awful. Please dismantle it so I never have to look at any of these plastic skeletons again.”

We continued walking around for a few seconds longer, staring around the store in disgust.

“Well, I can’t exactly make any promises but the most I can do right now is get you out of here,” I said and he tilted his head to the side, his blond hair falling softly to rest on his shoulder.

“And rightly so.”

I smiled and we headed towards the store exit together. Maybe it would’ve been better if we had decided to do this in the first place instead of following Eren and Historia around aimlessly for an hour. We waited for a little while, still laughing about the shop’s alarming décor before the two finally wandered outside to join us.

“I was wondering where you guys went,” Eren grumbled but Historia put a firm hand on his shoulder.

“We should do what we said we would and start finding some clothes for Armin.”

Said boy looked seriously displeased. Maybe Mikasa was right in saying no after all. He shouldn’t have to do something he wasn’t comfortable with.

“Hey,” I nudged his arm, “If you don’t want to-”

“I do,” Armin replied, cutting me off, “I do want to. I’m tired of these worn old shirts and these embarrassing jeans.”

I rose an eyebrow so he continued, “I just don’t want you guys to keep spending money on me.”

Eren frowned, “But Armin-”

“No,” the blond said sternly, “You guys can pick whatever you want for me, alright? But I’m buying them with my _own_ money. No buts.”

Historia looked disappointed but she didn’t say anything else, instead opting to grab the both of us by the arm before dragging us towards the shop opposite from where we were standing.

“Where are we going?” Eren asked, looking around in confusion as he quickened his pace to keep up with the tiny girl.

“He said we could pick for him,” she shrugged and Armin stilled in her grip. This obviously didn’t seem to faze her however, as she continued to pull us along.

Her nails were really sharp.

She dragged us into the clothing store and I looked around, now pretty confused myself. This didn’t look like the type of place Historia would shop at like, ever. She whispered something to Eren and he nodded before the two of them started rummaging through random racks of clothing.

I put a reassuring hand on Armin’s shoulder as he continued to be poked and prodded but his seemed to be in a weird state of calm despite the redness in his cheeks. He probably felt a bit better now that he knew he wasn’t going to be dressed up like the other two. 

Eren held up a variety of different shirts to Armin’s torso and Historia gave her approval to each in turn, shaking her head if she didn’t like something. Armin’s face looked like it was on fire but they didn’t seem to take notice as they ran around the store.

I didn’t exactly know what I was supposed to do so I just kind of stood there as moral support and soon enough, Historia was proudly placing a pile of clothes into Eren’s arms. The two boys headed towards the fitting rooms with Armin still red in the face.

Historia suddenly turned to me and I looked away towards the store‘s front, kind of ticked off at the way she’d ignored me throughout all of this. I guess I was just their makeshift cab driver after all.

“If you were gonna go all out you could have let me look around somewhere else,” I scowled, “I mean, not to burst your bubble but I only agreed to come in the first place so that I could actually buy shit, not to act like a little puppy dog.”

“But we need you to be here,” she replied innocently as she swayed slightly in place, “We need someone else to give the yes or no in case we are too blinded by our own creation.”

“What?”

She sighed, impatient now, “We need you to tell Armin if he looks good.”

“Is this a joke?” Did she really expect me to sit around critiquing their shitty fashion choices for another half hour? If I was gonna go by what she and Eren were wearing right now I prayed that I wouldn’t start being too honest.

“Come on!” she grinned, grabbing me by the sleeve of my jacket and pulling me along in the direction that Armin and Eren went.

When we got to the fitting room she called for Eren and I saw a hand wave over the top of one of the doors, “How’s it going in there!?”

Hold up. Were Armin and Eren in the same fitting room!?

I heard Eren shout back a “good” and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Of course they were. 

Eren finally slipped out looking pretty pleased with himself and I instantly felt annoyed until I saw Armin’s head poke out from behind the fabric.

He opened the curtain carefully and stepped out in a pair of jeans that surprise surprise, actually did happen to fit. He looked genuinely happy when he took a peek at his own reflection and I felt a smile make it’s way onto my own face. He was so cute.

“This is so weird,” he whispered, “They fit so perfectly.”

“You have a great butt,” Historia said super casually, walking over to check the size on the label, “You like them?”

He nodded and Eren laughed triumphantly. Armin finally caught my eye and grinned, “What do you think?”

“They look awesome,” I replied and he squealed quietly, obviously pleased with my reaction.

“That’s good,” Historia nodded with approval and Eren walked back towards the cubicle, closing the curtain behind Armin and himself once Historia had stepped out.

It looked like Eren had styled everything accordingly (why am I not surprised) and it all looked great, I had to admit. Historia even squealed at one point to say the least. Armin tried on outfit after outfit and I just had to say, it was actually pretty exciting to see him modeling different clothes.

I heard arguing in the cubicle later on at one point but it was mostly muffled whispers and a distressed sounding cry from Eren. Historia looked like she wanted to bust in there to sort it out herself but soon Eren emerged, expression not revealing anything.

“This is the finale,” he said, finally smiling.

I shot him a questioning look but Historia grinned, clapping her hands with glee. Eren called back to Armin but it took a while for the blond to reply, obviously not happy about something.

“You look cute,” Eren shouted back, “just come out already!”

I heard Armin sigh loudly but Eren just smiled and turned to face us.

“Now, I present to you,” he grinned elfishly, “the adorable, Armin Arlert in his final form!”

He pulled back the curtain and suddenly I couldn’t remember how to breathe.

Armin’s face was bright red and most of it was covered by his hands. From the top he was dressed in a white button up paired with a crochet black sweater but below that he wore nude tights and probably the most revealing pair of shorts known to man, like holy fucking shit. 

Whoever invented shorts that short was a criminal. This is illegal affirmed by me as of right now.

Eren cast Historia a disgruntled look, “He wouldn’t put on the thigh highs.”

But she waved him off, walking towards Armin with just about the smuggest look I had ever seen, “Just put them in the basket, Eren… Jean, what do you think?”

Was this some sort of test? Because I did not exactly appreciate how sickly sweet her voice sounded in this time of crisis.

“Uhh, uh…”

Oh wow, I was just full of incredible responses today. For some reason now, I was only able to speak toddler. Amazing.

Armin finally uncovered his face and I almost died right then and there. 

God, please tell me what I did to deserve this.

“Is it okay?” he asked, face still flushed as Historia turned him around so he could look at himself in the mirror, “Is it too much?”

I shook my head dumbly and Eren snickered from beside me, “You look uh, pretty- uh, pretty good…”

Nice going, Jean.

“Really?” he looked down at his legs and suddenly I wanted to scream.

“Mhm,” I nodded furiously, not trusting my mouth to say anything else. I probably looked pained or something now, great thinking. This was totally a fucking set up.

“You should definitely get them,” Historia grinned, patting Armin on the back, “You look super cute!”

Armin’s lips thinned before curving into a small smile, “Okay.”

I internally berated myself while Armin disappeared back into the fitting room and I continued to do so even when we had left the store. I am the biggest pervert in existence. Someone please shame me. Banish me to the depths of hell.

But the three of them just continued to chat, completely oblivious to my internal struggle. Figures.

“Jean?” Historia nudged me in the arm to get my attention, “It’s your turn to choose a store now.”

I suddenly felt my face burn up. My life was already embarrassing enough, If I told them that I wanted to go look for art supplies they’d probably think I was seriously uncool. Think, Jean dammit! You have to say something!

“Uh, if you guys wanna go get some more stuff for yourself it’s cool,” I said, scratching my neck in discomfort, “I just wanna have a look around, ya know? Nowhere specific.”

“Okay,” Eren shrugged, “We could split up and meet somewhere when you’re done.”

“Yeah!” Historia grinned, “We could all go and get milkshakes!”

Armin nodded, “I’ll tag along with whoever.”

Historia paused for a second and squeezed into the space between Armin and Eren, “Why don’t you go with Jean? You guys seem to get on very well.”

She smiled up at me sweetly and nudged Armin closer to where I was walking. What the hell was she trying to infer?

“Ugh, really?” Eren grumbled, narrowing his piercing, devil eyes at me, “I kind of wanted Armin to hang out with us instead.”

Armin just shrugged but Historia elbowed Eren in the side and he yelped, “Hey! What was that for!?”

She shot him a dirty look and made a gesture with her head but Eren still looked clueless, and so was I for that matter. They continued to stare each other down and I sighed, sticking my hands into my pockets as we walked, “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“ _No!_ ” They both said in unison, turning to stare at me as if I’d said something completely incredulous.

“Wow, okay geez,” I held my hands up in surrender, “No need to get so riled up about it.”

“Ugh, god. Just get out of my sight,” Eren groaned, shooing at me with his hands, “Go and meet us by the fountain downstairs at 2. Understand?”

“You’ve got it boss,” I replied, shooting them a cocky grin before I waved them off. I even so much as called back a quick “see you later” while I went on my way.

I had barely even made it to the other side of the building before I felt someone tug at my sleeve and looked down to find a slightly disheveled Armin puffing beside me.

“Hey-” he panted. Did he run all the way over here? “I didn’t really want to trail around looking at handbags all day so - I hope it’s okay if I follow you instead.”

“Won’t Eren be mad?” I replied and he rolled his eyes. What? It was a totally valid question!

“You do know that Eren isn‘t my boyfriend, right?” he said, tucking one side of his hair behind his ear and I shrugged, “I just thought it would be more interesting to see where you were heading since you didn’t seem to want to spill earlier.” 

“How did you-?”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

Of course. And here I was thinking I was the smoothest of the smooth. The coolest of the cool. A++ liar Jean Kirschstein.

“Your facial expressions make it too obvious,” he continued, looking around the place before looking up at me and pointing to his face, “You do this weird twitchy thing with your nose.”

I lifted my hand to my own face self-consciously and he just shrugged in response, as if it were common knowledge. This was the same boy that always had something on his mind, the same one who always wore ill-fitting jeans but could secretly pull off short-shorts with no problem. Of course he could tell if I were lying.

We finally stopped in front of a small shop with a bright blue banner out front and no logo. He looked up at me curiously but I just headed inside and he followed, staring around at the multicolor, plastic tubes of paint lined up along the shelves.

“Are you an artist?” he gasped and I tensed up, feeling slightly embarrassed under his scrutiny.

“It’s more of a hobby,” I said quickly, making my way towards the Faber-Castell display, “I draw sometimes.”

He didn’t say anything back but when I glanced at him he still seemed fascinated by the place for whatever reason. I mean, surely he’s seen an art store before?

“There are so many different pens,” he mumbled when I plucked a few from the display and tested them on the paper stuck to the table, “How do you know what to choose?”

“Well, art supplies are usually pretty expensive so I only buy things I know I’m going to use,” I explained, picking up a pack of fine liners, “I mostly buy pens and shit.”

He hummed in response, still looking like he wanted to ask more questions. I brushed it off though. He was probably just being nice, this place couldn’t be _that_ interesting. 

I finally decided on buying a tin of numerous graphite pencils and the fine liners I’d picked up and left the store feeling a lot better than I had before. Armin was still interrogating me about my interests and though I was still mildly embarrassed about it, I was also kind of flattered. Did he really want to know that badly?

“-So you draw people?”

“Mostly,” I shrugged, slipping my hands into the pockets of my jacket, “Sometimes I like to take a break from that but I studied art in college anyway so I got a lot of opportunities to just draw whatever. You’re still studying, right?”

“Yeah,” he grinned, “I take English literature, biology and classics!”

“Classics?”

“Mhm,” his lips thinned and he drummed the tips of his fingers together while we walked, “It’s the study of classical civilization and ancient history. So we learn about Greek and Latin culture.”

“Oh wow, that‘s pretty cool,” I replied, slightly confused by his explanation, “So you must like history a lot, huh?”

“Yes, I find it really intriguing,” he buried his face into the fur hood of his parka for a second and I felt a smile pull at my lips, “Not many schools teach it but I go to Shinganshina, same as Eren.”

I nodded but he stopped suddenly, putting a small hand on my arm to keep me from walking on, “I wanna go get some conditioner.”

My eyebrows shot up in confusion but he seemed unphased, pulling me inside of the drugstore we had just passed by. I watched him for a while as he scrutinized the shelves filled with bottles of god knows what. I just buy shampoo and shit whenever I go to the supermarket so this was definitely new to me. He plucked a shimmery gold bottle off of the shelf and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Of course a pretty boy like Armin would buy pretty conditioner for his hair. That’s probably why it looked so soft all the time.

We headed towards the counter and he paid for his stuff and soon enough we were heading towards the exit, walking back through the aisle of makeup at the front of the store again with bags in hand.

“Eren always buys his stuff in here,” Armin giggled, stopping for a second to point towards one of the brand names on top of the makeup display, “Everything looks exactly the same though, I don’t understand how he always knows what to get.”

I stopped walking and joined him where he was standing, facing the alien looking products. He was right, everything looked vaguely similar. I frowned at the brown coloured slosh in some of the jars and reached out to touch it on impulse.

“Ugh! What the hell!?” 

The texture felt super gross and Armin snickered when I started flapping my hand around. Luckily the place was relatively empty so no one seemed to have heard my sudden outburst. He continued giggling, the sound soon turning into full blown laughter and I scowled, watching carefully when the blond screwed his eyes shut. Oh yeah, this was real funny.

I reached out to wipe the strange substance on his cheek and he gasped, almost dropping the bags in his hand. It was my turn to start laughing but I stopped quickly when I saw the serious look on his face. Maybe I went too far with that one.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

Before I even had a chance to finish my sentence, he reached out quickly and dug his finger into a pot of blue paste. Smearing it along the side of my jaw before folding his arms across his chest triumphantly.

We stared at each other in silence for a couple of seconds. His eyes tracing my features carefully.

“Oh, it’s on blondie,” I hissed playfully, finally dipping my finger back into my own pot before swiping another dark mark across his chin. No reaction.

He stepped forward onto his tiptoes and the corners of his lips pulled up into that quirky smile I was starting to grow more and more fond of. He placed his hands on my arms for balance and stared up at me, face only inches apart, “ _Bring it._ ”

Just a few smears of makeup soon turned into a full out face painting war and I tried to ignore the stickiness of the brightly coloured paste across my eyelid. Armin looked just as bad and his fringe had been partly mussed up and was now sticking up at weird angles across his forehead. We got a few dirty looks from other shoppers but that was hardly my mind’s main focus.

I smudged some of the paste onto his nose but he didn’t retaliate this time, using my shoulders as leverage while he tried to regain his balance.

“How do I look?” he asked jokingly and I ran my multicolored thumbs down both sides of his face, trying to tone down my laughter so I could properly respond.

“Ethereal.”

His smile faded and I drummed my fingers along his cheeks softly. He didn’t look upset though, I noted gladly. He just seemed more shocked than anything else.

Was this okay? Was _I_ okay? This was heading farther and farther away from friend territory.

I could feel my own face start to heat up when I noticed the pink colour staining his cheeks underneath all of the brown and blue makeup and suddenly my mouth felt dry. The last time I’d seen his face this close up it had been dark but now I was able to see all of his features clearly. His eyelashes were long and a lot darker than his hair colour, similarly to his eyebrows, and his nose was so tiny. I ran my finger over the scar beside his ear.

“You really think that?” he whispered, reaching up to run his fingers along one of the hands I’d placed on his cheek.

“I really do,” I replied and he smiled softly. 

But before I could say anything else we were interrupted with a loud sigh and I cursed myself internally. I turned my head slowly, only to find a bored looking shop assistant staring us down. Shit. Maybe I should’ve seen this coming.

“Are you and your _girlfriend_ going to buy anything, sir?”

Girlfriend!?

She scowled, narrowing her eyes when I finally let go of Armin. He squealed and jumped away from me, only realizing now that we were being spoken to. The woman just loudly smacked her gum while the two of us looked at each other in concern.

Neither of us knew what to do in this situation.

The woman sighed again and crossed her arms, “Do you want me to call security?”

“Nope!” Armin said quickly, grabbing my arm as he pulled me towards the exit, “Nope, nope, we’re good! Just leaving!”

I tried not to look back as we practically ran out of the shop. As soon as we had exited the store the two of us broke down into bouts of hysterical laughter. Holy shit.

“Oh my fucking god! I can never show my face there again,” Armin huffed, smile wavering as he tried to control his laughter, “This is the first time in my life I’ve ever been kicked out of a shop!”

“I’ve had a couple of past experiences,” I grinned and he rolled his eyes, “Now you are just gonna have to buy regular people conditioner.”

“Shut up. You’re a bad influence on me,” he responded teasingly, gently elbowing me in the side.

“That shop assistant was so rude though,” I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket, “Did you hear the way she spoke to us _‘are you going to buy anything, sir’_ ” 

Armin giggled and I checked the time on my lock screen, shit it was already 2:15, Eren was gonna go awol.

“We need to go,” I grabbed his wrist and pulled him in the direction of the closest escalator, now.”

“Why-? What, Jean!?”

“We’re late to meet Eren and Historia!”

His eyes widened and I gnawed at my lip in panic as we rushed down the stairs and pushed through the crowd to find the fountain. It took us a couple of minutes until we finally arrived but I couldn’t make out their expressions exactly. I could only see that Eren was pissed off by the way he was gesturing towards the people sitting around the fountain. Yay, I’m in for an earful.

Historia spotted us first and rose an eyebrow in confusion. When Eren finally turned around his reaction was almost exactly the same, except he looked more upset. They weren’t even saying anything, just staring. Why wasn’t he cussing me out?

“What the hell is that on your face?” Eren finally asked, still wearing that stupid expression. I touched my cheek experimentally and felt something sticky come off on my fingers.

Ah, shit.

“Is that…eye shadow?” Historia came closer, examining the colours still staining my face, “Is Armin wearing foundation!?”

Armin wiped at his chin with the back of his hand, “Haha, uh. Maybe.”

Some people shot us weird looks as they went past and while I wasn’t exactly surprised, Armin looked like he wanted to bury his head in a hole. Eren was rubbing at the blond’s face rather aggressively with a crumpled tissue I’m pretty sure that he found in his pocket and Historia was staring up at me with that smug expression again.

“What?” I grumbled, wiping some of the supposed “eye shadow” off of my cheek and onto my arm.

“Nothing,” she replied, shooting me a shit-eating grin, “It just looks like you guys had fun.”

I narrowed my eyes but Eren called over to us from where he was still trying to clean Armin’s face, “You guys wanna go get milkshakes now?”

“Hell yeah!” Historia squealed, turning her attention away from me.

Yeah, milkshakes. Woo.

\----------------------------

Ugh, today was so exhausting.

After that shopping experience I realized I actually had a pretty good time. I mean, I had to stare at clothes for a couple of hours and I still had blue eye shadow all over my face but it was about as pleasant as it could’ve been. 

We’d gotten milkshakes as planned and Historia seemed _really_ enthusiastic. No one else really seemed to care but we ended up discussing how our little detours went. Eren and Historia had gone back to one of the shops we’d been at previously and bought something that looked like socks but Eren swore to me that it wasn’t.

Armin insisted that I should just drop him off with Eren after Historia said that she’d call a cab and I was confused as to why until he explained that the reason they’d known each other for so long was because they lived right across the road from each other. And I had to say this was a bit of a shock.

So they went to school together AND they were neighbours. But I guess that explained why they were so weirdly close.

When I finally arrived home I dropped my bags on the floor and flopped down onto my bed. I reached for my phone and realized that I had missed a few texts and a couple of calls from Sasha. Ugh, I’d totally forgotten about the Connie situation.

I sent him a quick text to see how he was doing and went to answer whatever Sasha had sent me earlier today.

_**Received today at 3:37pm** _  
_JEAN!!!!!!!!!!!MIKASA SHOWED ME THE NEWSPAPER AND IT SAID THERE ARE GOING TO BE AUDITIONS FOR THE STAGE VERSION OF THE WIZARD OF OZ!!!!!!!!!_

_**Received today at 4:29pm** _  
_JEAN U ASSHOLE FREAKING ANSWER_

_**Received today at 4:40pm** _  
_ANSWERRRRRRRRRRR_

I rolled my eyes and started typing out a reply.

_**Sent today at 6:13pm** _  
_dude, when is it??_

I jumped slightly when my phone vibrated in my hand a few seconds later. Fumbling with it to avoid dropping it on my face.

_**Received today at 6:13pm** _  
_In April? I think???? man I’m not sure, I took the advert with me_

I asked if she was going to try out and she informed me that yes, she was. We continued to exchange stupid messages but the whole Connie thing was still weighing on my mind from earlier. I wanted to ask if she remembered anything but he’d told me to keep my mouth shut. I had to keep quiet about it, at least until Connie gave me the say so.

Halfway through my internal struggle a familiar buzzing sound from the cardboard box beside my bed interrupted my thoughts. I still hadn’t unpacked all of my stuff yet, even though it had been a while since I’d gotten settled in. I kind of used this box to put whatever in since I didn’t exactly have a desk either. I rolled off of my bed and got down on my knees on the floor to dig through it.

I pulled out my shitty old mobile with the cracked screen and declined straight away. I didn’t even have to look at the caller ID to figure out who it was and I felt that horrible guilty feeling I always got build up inside my stomach again. Perfect.

I was a huge jerk. How the hell was I supposed to pick up the phone and answer like I wasn’t enjoying life right now? Like everything was still totally shitty and things weren’t going so great. Why did I even keep this thing around? I’d charge it up all the time and just throw it back in the same fucking box everyday.

Why would he even bother calling me on this piece of crap in the first place?

My other phone rung suddenly and I quickly jumped up from my position on the floor, reaching for the device still placed hazardously on my bed. I almost felt relieved when I realized that it was Connie this time, and that said something for sure. I touched the big green button and pressed the phone up against my ear.

“Yo.”

“Hey, man,” Connie’s voice came from the receiver, instantly calming me down, “I got your text.”

“I just wanted to see how things were going with Sasha,” I replied, sitting down on the edge of my bed quietly, “after…last night.”

He was silent for a couple of seconds and I waited impatiently for him to respond. Did he hang up? He coughed and I pressed the phone harder against my ear, “I thought we already talked about that.”

“Well, not enough,” I grumbled back, “Obviously.”

I heard him laugh and I sat back against my headboard, slightly concerned, “She hasn’t said anything about it, bro,” he replied, “…You didn’t tell her, did you?”

“Of course I didn’t! Did you expect me to!?”

“Maybe… I don’t know man.”

He sighed and I placed the phone in the junction between my shoulder and my ear, picking up the older model I’d found earlier to run my thumb along the cracks in the screen.

“Don’t you think you should talk about it?” I asked, scrolling vacantly through all of my old contacts from college, “I mean… it’s real easy to avoid your problems.”

“But what if-”

“No, listen,” I said, scowling down at the device before pressing the off button hard, “She’ll totally get. You’ve gotta communicate with her either way so talk like you always do.”

“You know, I think I just might,” he answered, tone lighter this time, “Thanks so much, man - you give good advice.”

“Duh.”

“Oh shut up, you arrogant prick.”

I started laughing but it was more of a halfhearted attempt. He didn’t seem to notice though, fortunately.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta keep it short and sweet, Jeannyboy,” he said suddenly before letting out a loud sigh and going off topic, “Whenever someone says that I always think of pineapple.”

I started laughing for real this time and he joined in. It always felt like we hadn’t spoken in forever when he made shitty jokes like that.

Today was a good day, Jean.

I tossed the broken phone back into the box and kicked it across the room. Connie said something else but I just laughed along like I was listening and got up from my bed.

“-No, man but really. Thanks for the advice,” he said, “I needed it.”

“It’s nothing,” I replied, opening wardrobe before kicking the box all the way to the back, “She’s your best friend. She‘ll understand.”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to her,” I could imagine him nodding stupidly around about now, “I’ll hit you up tomorrow.”

“Sure thing.”

“See you.”

“See ya.”

The line went dead and I slammed the closet door shut. Why the hell was I advising people about things that I couldn’t even do myself? _Idiot._

 _Friends were supposed to communicate with each other._ Fuck that.

I curled back up on my tiny bed and stared at the wall opposite, trying not to think about the phone call that had fucked up my day.

I reached up to rub my eyes but jumped slightly when I removed them to find multiple bright blue stains on my knuckles.

Oh, right. The makeup.

I couldn’t help but wonder how Armin was fairing right now. Eren had wiped a majority of it off of his face by the fountain but there were still random patches of orange blotted across his cheeks, even on the way back.

I felt my heart pound in my chest and I buried my face into my pillow, defeated.

Who even uses the word ethereal to describe a person? I’m so embarrassing.

I sighed and closed my eyes. I still had my clothes on but I couldn’t care less in that moment, thoughts drifting back to the pretty blond boy with the sparkly eyes and the dorky worn out jeans.

Yeah, I finally decided. Today was pretty good after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh.


	6. It's A Small World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fishes and good company.

**_Received today at 8:12am_ **  
_Do you still want to go to the aquarium?_

I hummed thoughtfully for a second and put my phone down before taking another long swig of coffee. The light from the window beside the fridge was still burning my eyes and I leaned over the countertop, pen in one hand, mug in the other as I stared down at my sketchbook, unsure of whether I liked my drawing or not.

I’d been really into drawing angels lately. And dragons. Mostly anything with wings or a halo and sometimes even both. It was a nice change.

My eyes flickered back over to where I had precariously placed my phone. There was still a lot of time before I had to go. I sighed and placed the pen back into the middle of the book before picking up the device again.

I’d grown more and more used to the layout of my apartment in the short time I’d been living here and my couch arrived last week so I was almost radiating calm. In fact, I was super chilled out. Like Mikasa level chill. If that was even possible.

Or maybe Spring just did that to me, who knows.

**_Sent today at 8:16am_ **  
_Of course, I’m gonna pick you up remember_

**_Received today at 8:17am_ **  
_I do remember actually, Jean. That’s why I messaged you._

Geez, what a sasspot. First he invites me out and now he’s acting like I was the one who was gonna forget about our plans. Why else would I be up so early?

I smiled and leaned across the counter to tap out a reply.

**_Sent today at 8:17am_ **  
_Wow Armin, do you even trust me like at all?????_

**_Received today at 8:17am_ **  
_No._

I laughed and finished the last of my coffee. It was just going to be the two of us and I was kind of nervous. I mean, it wasn’t like a date or anything but it was still weird hanging out one on one. And this was only heightened by the fact that I knew fuck all about fishes.

Which wouldn’t normally be a problem but this was Armin. Armin, the boy who could talk about the ocean at a thousand words a minute. And I wasn’t even good at math but one thing was for certain, he always spoke torpedo level fucking fast when he knew a lot about something.

**_Sent today at 8:20am_ **  
_Good to know_

I put my phone down on the countertop and walked into the bathroom to fix myself up before I left. Armin had wanted to meet way earlier but there was no way I was getting up at 5AM just to see a bunch of fishes swimming around in a tank all day. We’d settled on meeting at nine and I would probably be able to drive over to his house in less than fifteen minutes so I had a lot of time to spare.

I brushed my teeth and messed with my hair for a bit in front of the mirror until I deemed it suitable enough to be seen in public. I wasn’t exactly worried about looking charming to be fair, I had aged pretty well. Though, Sasha and Connie would never let me live down my journey throughout the prepubescent years, and give or take the awful days of baggy sweatshirts and boot cut jeans. Talk about living nightmare.

Sometimes I felt pretty nostalgic reminiscing about the good old days. Way back when I wore those tacky braces with the bright blue bands and had a head cold more than half the time. I missed Reiner and Bertholdt too but I’m sure Connie missed them a whole lot more. The four of us plus Sasha were misfits in everyway possible but I was sure that’s what worked so well about us. Occasionally they would even drop into town and the five of us would go hang out somewhere, most likely the coast. They liked the coast a lot, for some weird reason.

I absentmindedly picked at the dry skin on my lip and automatically regret it when I felt the sharp sting of pain it left behind. Fuck.

I hadn’t heard from Annie in a while either but she’d gone back to visit them so that wasn’t really anything new to me, we weren’t exactly close in the first place. How did Armin even know her?

Maybe Eren introduced them.

I sighed and leaned forward with my hands at either side of the sink. Stop being nervous, dammit. You’re cool, Jean. You’re cool. It was just Armin. Armin who was nice and really easy to talk to. We hung out all the time, didn’t we? 

I finally tore my hands away from the porcelain and walked back out into the kitchen to check the time again. It was already 8:35 so I decided to grab my wallet, jacket, and keys before I head out. Being a little early couldn’t hurt. Besides, there was bound to be traffic anyway at this time in the morning.

I stuffed my phone into my pocket and jogged down the stairs to the car park. The front of the building always smelt like shit and it was a shame to say I was starting to grow used to it. I unlocked my car and sat down in front of the wheel before putting the key into the ignition and turning on the radio to whatever station was on.

The drive to Armin’s was mostly cold and the heater in my car was spurring in and out like it had been every other day this week. The traffic was also a lot worse than I predicted so I even ended up arriving a few minutes late. I pulled out my phone again to send Armin a quick text telling him to “get his butt down here” and he knocked on my window about a minute later, signaling for me to unlock the door.

“You look cold,” I snickered and he rolled his eyes as he slid into the passenger seat.

“Of course I am,” he replied pulling his blue, knitted bobble hat over the top of his ears before buckling his seatbelt.

He shivered and I rose an eyebrow, “Actually, I think it’s a lot worse in here.”

“No duh,” I said, checking my mirrors, “The heater is fucked.”

His lips thinned into a small smile and he sat back properly in his seat, “Great.”

I heard him sniffle and shot him a concerned look. His eyes and nose were both bright red and he caught me staring almost right away, letting out a weak sigh before turning his back to me, “I’ve got hay fever, don’t look.”

I didn’t stop and he covered his face with his hand, using the other to gently shove at my shoulder. I decided to turn on the charm.

“If you don’t want me to look then stop being so cute.”

He turned back to face me with a sullen expression.

“I can’t help being adorable, Jean.”

I removed his hand but his expression was so serious that I started laughing. A smile soon crept across his face while I was still trying to catch my breath and I forced myself to pay attention to the street again, backing out onto the empty road. We started off the drive to the aquarium discussing mostly TV shows, to which Armin claimed that my netflix addiction was unhealthy and odd because “how can someone watch so much television in a single day?” He also told me that it would be quite a long drive to get there and this did well to ease most of my nerves for the time being. The car was still shitty and cold but at least I had some company.

“-So then we got kicked out of the cinema,” Armin elaborated, waving his hands around wildly, “All because Eren started booing at one of the extras halfway through the movie!”

“Well, why did he have to boo?” I asked, furrowing my brows at the way the fog was homing in on the glass in front of my line of vision, “I mean, why not just quietly whisper _‘hey guys, I’m really upset with how this movie is going right now, this isn’t my cup of tea.’_ ”

Armin giggled into his hand and stared out of the window, “He said it was boring, well…he yelled it, rather. Mikasa was really embarrassed.”

I rose an eyebrow and scoffed, “Mikasa was embarrassed? No way.”

“Yes way!” he replied, turning back to face me, “And she told him off right in the middle of the foyer!”

“Okay, _that_ I can believe.”

Armin nodded and glanced back out of the window again, “Eren used to be really stubborn about things like that.”

“Pfft. Well that’s definitely an understatement.”

“The funniest time I think was when Mikasa drove us to this amusement park one time and Eren threw up on someone in front of him on one of the rides. And then when everyone got off, he started arguing with the guy-”

“He was arguing with the guy he threw up on?”

“Yeah! Then we had to drag him away and I don’t remember exactly what he said but uhh,” he frowned and brushed a few strands of hair away from his nose, “You know, it doesn’t sound all that funny now that I’ve said it. Mikasa can tell it better.”

I snorted and shot him a quick smile, “I’ll take your word for it.”

“I think she remembers a lot of things from around that time.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

I waited for him to continue but it didn’t look like he had any intentions of doing so. I sighed and tried to prompt him, “Things like…?”

He sneezed and put his hand back over his mouth, “Her crush-” another sneeze, “on Eren.”

“Whaaaat?”

“You didn’t know?” he visibly tensed up. That probably came out unintentionally.

It didn't exactly come as a surprise though, the three of them were weirdly close to begin with.

“Well, not until now,” I replied, tapping my fingers on the wheel, “But it’s cool, I won’t tell.”

“It was a long time ago. I don't know if she still likes him like that,” he said, fiddling with his bag in his lap, “Please don’t say anything.”

“I won’t.”

He buried his face in the hood of his parka and I noted that this was something he did often. I wonder what he would do if he wasn’t wearing such a big coat all the time. I heard him sneeze again and immediately looked over in concern but he was already blowing his nose, waving his other hand at me to look away. I guess he was pretty self-conscious. He’d always do little fidgety things like tuck his hair behind his ears and then cover them up again a second later, or tap his fingers together when he was uncomfortable.

And that coat. He’d always cover his face with the hood.

“Are you okay?” He asked and I nodded and kept my eyes on the road. 

He was really pretty, I didn’t get why someone who looked like that would cover their face all of the time.

“We’re almost there.”

Still, he was just as losery as I was.

“I haven’t been to the aquarium since I was a little kid,” I said when we finally pulled into a parking spot close to the building, “And I was probably like seven so I don’t remember a thing.”

“Then you’ll like it,” he replied as we stepped out of my car, “They have sharks now!”

I smiled at his enthusiasm and locked my door before we headed into the building together. The front was painted bright purple and I automatically felt put off by their questionable choice of décor. The colour just looked way too overpowering. How many times had Armin even been here? He seemed to know the place off by heart and got us in quickly, which was kind of a relief to say the least. There were a bunch of little kids hanging around at the entrance and I don’t think I could have tolerated standing around for any longer than we had to.

The first room we entered was the standard, which wasn’t really too impressive. It had large glass walls on each side with those commentary cards placed in front of them. Armin dragged me towards them almost immediately, directing my attention towards the fish swimming around inside.

“There are a lot of parts like this,” he whispered, fingers closing around the sleeve of my jacket, “Mostly reef exhibits.”

I nodded and he continued, pointing different types of fish out to me as we walked slowly along the designated path, “Those are copperband butterfly fish - oh! And that over there is an emperor angelfish, pretty right?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “They’re real nice.”

He hummed and pulled me further along through the crowd, “I know we only just got here but I‘ve gotta show you my favourite spot.”

“Where are we going?”

He ignored me and we continued walking down the much darker path. I was surprised to see that there were less people now, most of them still crowded at the front of the exhibit. We passed by a few other tanks but Armin didn’t even stop to look inside, pausing in front of a map on the wall before turning around and dragging me along behind him.

“Close your eyes,” he said and I complied, albeit cautiously.

I didn’t even question it when he grabbed my hand and quickened our pace. The strong urge to look around was bubbling inside my chest and making my fingers tingle in anticipation. His skin was always so cold but also comforting in a weird, calming sort of way. The path was really narrow and he tightened his grip when I stumbled a little, I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze back just to prove that I trusted his judgement.

“How much longer is this gonna-”

“Shhh.”

Did he just shush me!?

“I went the wrong way so now we need to go back.”

He sounded frustrated and I couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at his antics. 

“Armin Arlert, expert aquarium explorer, lost!? Impossible!” I teased and he dug his fingernails into my hand, making me yelp in surprise.

“I didn’t say I was an expert. Just keep your eyes closed, Jean,” he sighed and I nodded, still snickering but taking his word for it, “Sometimes you act like the biggest jerk in the universe.”

“But _am I_ the biggest jerk in the universe?” I replied, grinning now.

“Yes.”

I laughed and he bumped his shoulder against my arm, not exactly tall enough to reach my own. I couldn’t see his face but I was sure the expression he was wearing right now was cute. It was like a scientific fact that every single face Armin pulled was cute.

“I found it! Do _not_ open,” he exclaimed, squeezing my hand tightly.

I shrugged and I was sure I heard him mutter something under his breath. Fucking cheek, what did he expect me to say? My eyes were itching and I rubbed at them with my free hand, feeling slightly disorientated. It took us another minute to get to wherever Armin was taking us and I heard him take a deep breath when we finally stopped, it was the same sound I always heard him make whenever he was in awe of something.

“Open.”

Blue.

That’s the first thought that registered in my mind when I’d refocused my vision, gazing around, absolutely wonderstruck. Around us, the walls, the ceiling, all of it had been formed into a giant glass arch where creatures swam around and overhead, completely ignorant of any prying eyes and camera shutters. There were only a few other people under the arch that I could see but the tunnel seemed to go on for ages, with a small junction leading off in two different directions at the end.

“Wow,” I heard myself say, completely absorbed in the way the fish moved around behind the glass. We walked towards one of the walls and Armin gasped when a small shark swam past. I found myself spending the moment taking it all in. It was strange seeing one so close up.

“It’s so cool, right?” Armin whispered, resting his head gently against my arm. I couldn’t help but notice that our hands were still joined but I didn’t feel as if I needed to do anything about it for now. It felt better like this, even if I wasn’t all that willing to admit it.

“Did you know that sharks have lived in our oceans now for more than four-hundred and twenty million years?” he continued and I smiled. His enthusiasm was really endearing.

“Really?”

I felt him nod and craned my neck to catch his eye but he was completely engrossed in our surroundings. It was silent for a while and I forced myself to ignore the cold while Armin observed the colourful array of fishes swimming around behind the glass. The tunnel was so dark, the only light came from the giant archway and even that in itself was still entirely blue and florescent. 

“Sometimes I wish I could just stand here forever,” he whispered, eyes never leaving the glass, “It makes me feel so void of responsibility.”

“Do you feel stressed out a lot then or something?” I mumbled into his hat and he nodded again, finally returning my gaze. The colour of his eyes reflected the light from the water and I softly pinched his cheek with my free hand impulsively, marvelling at how soft his skin was.

It took him a little while to reply, but when he did he turned back to stare at the fish again, pressing his head back against my arm, “I do.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know, just,” he sighed, “In general. I mean, I haven’t gotten a break from school in a while and I don’t really get out much anymore.”

“You’re out now,” I said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

“I know,” he replied, returning the gesture, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

He shrugged.

“For putting up with me, I guess. I know I complain a lot.”

I frowned and stood up straight at his response. He removed his head from where it had still been resting against my arm, startled at my sudden change in posture. I felt his fingers loosen around mine but that just made me grip his hand harder.

“I don’t just put up with you, alright?” I snapped, feeling my face heat up under his unwavering stare. Why were his eyes so damn bright? Fuck, “I really, ugh - I really like hanging out with you, okay!?”

He nodded silently and I groaned, “I think you are cool like - uh, you are just chill to be with, like in, yeah.”

He scrunched his nose up at me in uncertainty and I shrugged back awkwardly, not really knowing what other way to put it. I was pretty taken aback when he suddenly smiled that signature smile again. The one that was all pretty pink lips and no teeth.

“Do you even think about what you’re saying before it comes out of your mouth?” he giggled, covering his face with his fingers, “or is it always just pure word vomit?”

“Hey!” I shot back in mock annoyance, “I’ll have you know that I am exceptionally charming and charismatic.”

“Really?” he replied seriously, looking as unconvinced as ever. No- ugh, Armin. 

“Yep,” I responded, deciding to just go with it.

He scoffed at my reply and I released his hand momentarily at that, laughing when he automatically scrambled to reclaim it. He even pouted a little when I held him at arms length to keep us apart but that just made me laugh harder, especially now that his attention was no longer focused on the glass interior.

“Jerk,” he mumbled and I slid my hands down the rest of the way to take both of his. We swayed our arms back and forth like that for a few seconds until I saw his face break out into that smile again. He buried his face in his parka to hide it, “Super jerk.”

“Nerd,” I teased, “Super duper nerd.”

He narrowed his eyes but that just made it more difficult for me not to laugh. It hadn’t taken very long for me to realize that holding hands was just one of those things that came out of being friends with Armin. He once said it made him feel more grounded and I could definitely see what he meant. Especially in over crowded places and whatever. It made everything seem a lot smaller.

Armin was still staring at me and I pulled him forward, walking backwards through the tunnel carefully until we reached the dead end.

“Let’s go explore some more,” I said and he nodded enthusiastically in return.

We were finally exiting the tunnel when I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket, probably not important.

I reached back and held down the power button until the buzzing stopped, grabbing Armin’s hand again before we made our way into another area. He hadn’t noticed the sound over his explanation about what individual traits made seahorses so unique to each showcase and continued on until we came across a large jellyfish exhibit. The way he pressed his face right up against the glass was almost laughable, but it was mostly pretty cute. He looked so damn happy from staring at a couple of weird fishes.

I allowed myself a tiny smile and reached back to push my phone a little further into my pocket. Yeah, whoever it was definitely could wait.

\----------------------------

“I think rays are really cool.”

I rose an eyebrow but Armin just peered closer at the open tank in front of us. I guess one of the props of arriving early was that there weren’t many people queuing up for everything, but even after weighing out all of the pros and cons there was still no way I was gonna touch one of those slimy fucking fish things.

“I don’t care how cool they are, Armin I am not putting my hand in there,” I said, even taking a step back for emphasis.

“Come on, please,” he smiled sweetly up at me and I felt my eye twitch. This was the devil right here, there was no mistaking it.

“No.”

“They are super friendly!” he brushed his own fingers over one of the rays for proof of his words but I still wasn’t entirely convinced, “Please.”

His eyes darted between my own and the fish before settling back on me again, his small pout making me feel as if I had committed the worst crime humanly possible. I glanced at the fish and screwed my face up in disgust before glimpsing back towards Armin. He was still giving me that pleading look and I covered my eyes, too cute. It burns.

“Okay,” I sighed, defeated, “I’ll touch the damn fish if you stop making that face.”

Armin’s eyes instantly lit up and he coaxed me into reaching out, even going so far as to move my arm for me.

“Be super gentle,” he whispered, I could practically feel the excitement radiating from his small form. Mostly due to the way he was bouncing up and down ever so slightly on his toes beside me.

I nodded and finally ran the tips of my fingers along the fish, grimacing at how cold and slippery it felt along the top, “Ugh- yuck!”

I heard Armin laugh and pulled away from the tank, flicking my wrist to get the water away.

“Gosh it wasn’t that bad,” he said grabbing my hand and using his own to wipe off the _slime_ that was left behind. 

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t slime and I was over exaggerating BUT it still felt weird as hell. Armin didn’t seem particularly phased by this though, and just wiped his hands on his jeans right after, spouting out facts about any random fish he recognised on our way out of the ray exhibit.

“You really know a lot about sea life ‘n stuff,” I said when I spotted him peering around the glass towards another fish filled tank in the distance.

“I love the ocean,” he replied, tucking one side of his hair carefully behind his ear from underneath his hat as he gazed curiously towards another creature on our right, “It’s like a whole other world down there. Everything is just so strange and terrifying.”

“But you say that like it isn’t a bad thing.”

“It really isn’t.”

I screwed my face up in confusion, “Why?”

“Because it makes me want to know so much more.”

He smiled softly after saying this and I couldn’t help but do the same. I still didn’t care too much for fish (mostly because they were weird and gross) but hearing him talk about them was always so interesting. Especially with the way the corners of his mouth upturned when he was speaking about something he really liked in particular, or with the way that he gestured with his hands whenever he was trying to explain something complicated.

“You’re so odd,” I grinned, chuckling a little when he tried to look offended, “In a good way though, obviously.”

“And you are kind of an ass,” he replied, feigning clarity, “In a good way though, of course.”

I raised a brow suggestively, “Ass as in donkey or as in my butt is super fantastic.”

“Your butt is mediocre at best, Jean.”

Wow, okay that kind of stung.

“If it sweetens the deal a little,” I said, nudging his shoulder, “you have a pretty great butt yourself.”

“Well, thanks for the acknowledgement,” Armin giggled, slipping both hands into his pockets as we walked, “But I’m not changing my mind. No matter how many butt compliments you give me.”

“Okay, then it is an absolute catastrophe, the worst butt I have ever seen.”

He raised his eyebrows a little but I still saw the corner of his lips lift up ever so slightly at my sarcastic remark, “Oh, I’m sorry. If it helps, I guess your face is kind of alright though.”

“Really?” I snickered, feeling myself smirk, “And by _‘kind of alright’_ you mean…?”

“Conventionally attractive at most,” The teasing smile he wore made it hard for me to know whether to believe him or not, “You have nice eyes.”

“Seriously?”

“And a strong jaw, I suppose,” he blushed, turning away to stare back at the glass, “and a sharp nose…”

He trailed off and I didn’t prompt him to continue, feeling slightly embarrassed myself at how quickly the mood had changed from playful to awkward in almost no time at all.

I scratched the back of my neck, unsure of how to bring the conversation back to life, “Um…”

He looked back over at me for a second, cheeks still pink.

“You have a really nice smile.”

His eyes widened at my observation and he immediately turned away again, “Really?”

I cleared my throat, “Yeah.”

He blinked a couple of times and covered his mouth with his hand, “Thanks.”

I reached out to pull it away, cautiously lacing his fingers with mine and he finally glanced upwards, unable to look away this time. Neither of us said anything else for a while after that but it still didn’t quite quell the giddiness I was feeling in my stomach, and the warmth that was spreading through the tips of my fingers and turning my blood into lava. It felt like the inside of my body was on fire and the way our hands moulded perfectly together only seemed to ensure that.

Yeah, the world certainly felt a lot smaller.

The drive back was just as lively as it had been on the way there. Most of it spent with the both of us nitpicking at every song on the radio. Armin insisted that everything being played so far was “way too loud” and “sounded exactly the same” but I disagreed. I kind of liked listening to the similar sounding bubblegum pop crap while I was driving. It was super catchy, sue me.

My phone rang for what was probably the third time today since I’d turned it back on and I didn’t even bother glancing over at where I had placed it on the floor between both of our seats.

“Can you check who it is for me?” I asked, frowning at the road. It was still pretty foggy out and it kind of put me on edge.

The weather was always bad in Trost, especially in the springtime. It was more fog and rain than anything else and when the sun did come out, the air always felt like an obnoxious mixture of damp and humid. And it didn't help that it had started raining earlier today while we were at the aquarium, this town was freaking cursed.

Armin reached over and picked up the still buzzing phone, it was on silent but that didn’t make it any less annoying.

“It’s Mikasa,” he replied, looking up from the screen to stare forward out of the window, “Do you want me to answer?”

I nodded.

The buzzing stopped and was quickly replaced with the sound of said girl’s voice.

_“Hey, Jean. You aren’t driving are you?”_

“I am,” I sighed, scratching the side of my head with my thumb, “You’re on speaker, Armin’s here.”

_“Hey, Armin.”_

“Hey, Mikasa!” he smiled brightly down at the phone, he did know that she couldn’t see him, right?

I heard crackling at the other end, _“Hey, Ar-”_

“So what’s up?” I asked, cutting her off before she could repeat her greeting.

I heard her huff in annoyance on the other end of the line and bit back a small smile.

_"Well, I was wandering around town earlier today and I was gonna stop by but you weren’t picking up.”_

Armin raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Sorry,” I replied and genuinely at that, “I was out all day. I’m driving Armin home now though so you can still come over if you want, I was just going to watch netflix when I got in anyway.”

I heard her hum softly to herself for a second before replying, _“If that’s cool with Armin.”_

Of course.

I shot him a pleading look and he rolled his eyes, leaning forward slightly to quietly respond, “It’s cool with me.”

I mouthed a “thank you” back but he just shook his head and silently stared out of the window. Getting one on one time with Mikasa always felt like the biggest achievement in the world and whenever she came over we would usually just end up watching TV together anyways so it was a pretty alright plan. Well, it was always either that or gym. But it was kind of late for that.

Armin wouldn’t really mind, would he?

I tried to catch a peek of his expression but his face was mostly covered by his hair, cheek neatly cupped in his hand. His body was still turned towards the glass and I forced myself to continue answering Mikasa’s questions. It bothered me that I could never tell what he was thinking, he always seemed to take things so seriously.

_“-are you still watching Breaking Bad?”_

“I haven’t watched anything since you came over last time,” I sighed, resisting the urge to honk my horn at whoever this shitbag was in front of me. Can people not fucking drive properly these days!? Jesus, “I forgot how to set up the TV again.”

_“Again? Seriously?”_

“Don’t judge me, alright?” I grinned, finally settling back in my seat as Armin reached over to turn off the radio, “It’s a cheap piece of crap.”

_“Well, at least you have a job to pay for it now, that’s the good thing.”_

“Yeah…” I trailed off, squinting at my side mirror, “Yeah, Mikasa I’ve gotta go. The traffic is real shitty today.”

 _“Alright,”_ I heard her sigh, _“Drive safely. Love you Armin, I’ll talk to you later, okay?”_

Armin hummed softly, probably still zoned out.

_“And Jean, give me a call when you get home.”_

“Gotcha.”

_“See you.”_

“See ya.”

Armin hung up and finally turned towards me, resting the side of his head nonchalantly against his seat. It was quiet for a moment so when he finally spoke it came as a bit of a surprise, “You still like her.”

I shrugged and shot him a soft smile before turning back to face the road, “Guess it didn’t take long for you to figure that out, huh?”

He smiled sleepily and shook his head.

“I’ve felt that way for a long time though,” I continued, “She‘s warmed up to me over the years and I couldn‘t really find it in myself to let it go. I just…I dunno. God, I probably sound like such an idiot. There‘s something about her that makes me tick. That's what I'm trying to say.”

I heard him snort and rolled my eyes. Oh yeah, geez. Laugh at the lovestruck idiot why don’t ya’. I guess I should’ve anticipated that reaction. It was the same one Eren gave me. And it was the same noise Connie and Sasha always made before bursting into hysterics.

I glanced over, expecting him to be cynical but he just smiled. 

“What?” I grumbled.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child,” he said, laughing as he ran his fingers over the phone still clutched in his hands, “It was really painfully obvious.”

I frowned, not really knowing how to respond. Was I really that obvious? I mean, yeah sure Mikasa definitely knows but we’d come to terms with it. Definitely, Yeah.

She’d even told me she didn’t mind as long as we established boundaries. Which was cool, we were friends. Good friends.

Armin’s expression was blank again, wide eyes still drilling into the side of my head. I felt my face start to heat up and I prayed that I hadn’t started blushing at the mention of my crush. That would only make me feel even more humiliated. It looked like Armin had already read my mind, he sat up straight again and reached out to give my arm a soft poke.

“It’s sweet, Jean.”

I rose an eyebrow and he smiled innocently back, as if it was a well-known and 100% certified fact.

“And if it means anything to you,” he continued, smile fading as he placed my phone back on the ground and pulled his coat tighter around his small frame, “I think she thinks so too.”

I was absolutely certain that I was blushing now but Armin didn’t seem to notice, opting to stare back up at the sky that seemed to get darker and darker every minute.

The car was cold but his company did something to quell that. Even under the gross yellow lighting he still looked pretty. He probably looked pretty in any scene or setting, in fact. That seemed to have already been established.

“We’re almost there,” I spoke in a volume just above a whisper and out of the corner of my eye I saw him nod.

I tried to think of something else to say once we’d finally turned the corner onto Armin’s street but he seemed to be caught up in his thoughts again. I cleared my throat to get his attention, stopping my car just outside of his house, “Today was fun.”

How do normal people say goodbye again? Come on, Jean get with it.

“Yeah um…” he tucked his hair behind his ears and pulled his hat down further over his head, “Thanks for driving me.”

“N-no problem. Thanks for suggesting it.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up ever so slightly and I shot him back a lopsided smile, marvelling at the way his blue eyes sparkled in contrast to our surroundings, “You’re welcome.”

He opened the door and climbed out of the car without another word, which wasn’t exactly unusual for him. For the short time I’d known Armin I’d realized that getting used to his little peculiar notions was entirely inevitable by this point. Especially when he did things to make sure he got the final word in, covering his face when he laughed, and even on the common occasion when he would leave his stuff behind - Jesus Christ.

“Hey!” I unbuckled my seatbelt and hopped out of the driver’s side, waving the forgotten satchel around to catch his attention, “Hey-! Armin!”

He turned from where he had started unlocking his door and ran back down the steps to collect his bag, staring up at me in embarrassment when I held it out to him. His face was a lot harder to see in the dark, framed ever so slightly by wispy blond strands of his hair, almost like a halo.

“You almost forgot-”

“I did forget,” he sighed, wrapping his arms around me and burying his face into my chest, “Thank you.”

Oh, okay then.

I let out a short laugh and patted his back awkwardly (wow, good going. It‘s not like you are the tensest person in the world when it comes to being affectionate or anything). I - uh well, jeez. Even my thoughts were getting all jumbled up. I guess I wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable, mostly just surprised. I mean, it was just a bag after all. And I was just handing back something that didn't belong to me so why was my body burning up again? It was unusual.

He smelled really nice, sweet but not exactly perfumey. It was more sugary, like candy apple or gummy worms, or something. But also crisp and warm in a weird sort of way. Like the taste of hot chocolate and cinnamon in Autumn on a cold day, it had something sharp to it. 

My face was burning in spite of the coldness creeping along my fingers, and the air felt about ten times frostier when he finally took the bag from my hands and stepped back, pulling his hat back over his ears from where it had ridden up at the front. We stared at each other for a couple of seconds longer but his expression had returned back to that composed neutral I was getting more and more used to every time I saw him.

“Don’t forget to call Mikasa,” he whispered, eyes still shining even in the darkness.

“I won’t,” I replied. My mouth felt dry and my body was cold again so it took me a couple of seconds to get the words out, “Have a good night.”

He nodded, cheeks already red from the cold, “Y-you too.”

I sent another quick smile his way and walked back to my car slowly, listening to the click of the lock as he opened his front door. I called Mikasa before heading off home, it was only a brief conversation but I knew that either way I would get there before she did. Might as well take my time getting back.

\----------------------------

I had already fucked up turning on the damn TV by the time the buzzer for my flat went off and it was still as shitty and uncooperative as I had remembered it being last time I‘d tried. When Mikasa finally knocked on the door I was actually pretty relieved to say the least, she even went over the instructions with me.

“No - look,” she sighed, reaching behind the television to flick a switch on the back, “You need to put it on HDMI before you turn the box on.”

“Well, that’s just stupid!” I exclaimed, dropping the remote onto the couch, “How the hell was I supposed to know that!?”

“I showed you last time I was here,” she rolled her eyes and turned on the box, “See.”

“Yeah, yeah totally,” I replied waving my hands at her dismissively, “I’ll remember this time.”

I sat down on the couch and she jumped down beside me, grabbing the remote from where it was resting at the other end. Wow, she was really close like, really, _really_ close. She was even wearing her ‘casual clothes’ tonight, a plain white t-shirt, red scarf, and grey sweatpants. A big change from the giant hats and twenty million rings she wore whenever she was usually out and about.

“What are you looking at?” she teased, not even making eye contact with me as she signed into my netflix profile.

I grinned and scooted closer to where she was sitting.

“You.”

“Ha ha ha _ha,_ ” she replied tonelessly, smiling once she’d finally sat back and returned my gaze, “I should have known.”

“Yeah, you should have.”

She paused and didn’t reply, clicking play on the remote after flicking onto the Breaking Bad episode I had sworn I’d left untouched since her last visit. She didn’t return to staring blankly at the TV however, opting to train her eyes on my face for a couple of seconds before narrowing them in suspicion.

She leaned forward to sniff at the collar of my shirt and I gulped. 

Shit, did I smell bad? I had a shower before I went out today and it wasn’t boiling hot so there should be no problem, right? I was just worrying for no reason.

“You smell funny.”

Crap.

I frowned and she leaned forward again.

“Like what? What is it?” I asked, feeling even more self-conscious when she screwed up her nose a little.

“Something sweet, I dunno,” she replied, furrowing her thin eyebrows, “Like apple, maybe? Gum?”

Gum?

I shrugged, unsure, and she turned her attention back to the TV, resting her head on my shoulder as we watched Walter White open up the vent in the nursery for what had to be the third time this season. Jeez Walt. Good place to stash the money, that’s totally not suspicious at all.

We sat together in that position for a while longer and I tried to ignore the way my palms were sweating and my heart was pounding against my chest. I was really nervous.

“Hey,” Mikasa whispered, tapping out a rhythm on my arm to get my attention and I almost jumped out of my skin.

Yeah, definitely nervous.

I grunted in reply, eyes still dead set on the television, even when she tilted her head back to stare at my face. What do I do, _what do I do?_ I was totally shitty at this romance thing. I mean, we were comfortable now but what if I overstep? Would touching her be taking this too far?

I decided to take my chances and wrapped an arm around her waist, feeling slightly relieved when she didn’t shrug it away. Fucking smooth.

Now what?

She started tapping again, more impatiently this time, and I looked down to meet her gaze, letting out a small and rather undignified squeak of surprise when she tilted her face upwards to meet my lips.

The kiss only lasted about five seconds and I counted each one of them in my head. It was soft and chaste and all that I’d ever really hoped for. I barely had enough time to respond. There was a weird, unpleasant feeling of disappointment bubbling up inside my chest and settling at the bottom of my stomach and I didn't know how to amend it. That hadn’t at all felt like I thought it would. Where were the sparks? Where was the gooey happy feeling I got whenever something great happened?

What went wrong? Was it me? Maybe I was just a shitty kisser. Yeah. That had to be it.

“I’m sorry.”

Her voice brought me back to whatever screwed up sense of reality this was and I was met with her concerned gaze. My face felt like it was going to melt right off and in that instant I wished that it did. Maybe then I wouldn't have to deal with whatever this new emotion was and I could pretend that things were still all good.

“I just thought…” she trailed off, biting her lip and looking away in what I could only assume was embarrassment, “Do you not like me?”

The question caught me off guard and when I opened my mouth to speak, it all came out as word vomit. I tried again, “I- Yes - I mean no! No! I do like you!”

She still didn’t look convinced and I sighed and rubbed a hand down my face. Great, Jean. Nice one.

“I definitely do like you,” I continued, slowly this time, and she turned her face back towards me ever so slightly, “It was just kind of unexpected, ya know? Uh- t-the kiss.”

“Right,” she took a deep breath and lay her head back down against my shoulder. I could still hear the hesitation in her tone nevertheless.

“So, um…”

She looked up.

“What now?”

“Well,“ she sighed and tucked one side of her hair behind her ear, a gesture that was so incredibly Armin that it took me another second to register that she had started speaking again, “-we could just forget about it, if that’s what you want…”

I frowned.

“…Or we could… kiss again.”

Right.

I shrugged and tried to force away the icky feeling still lingering in my stomach, leaning forward slowly to meet her lips again.

She deepened the kiss quickly this time and my grip tightened around her waist. I sighed and her arm moved to encircle my neck, pulling my body closer only to have our noses bump a couple of times in the process. It didn’t take very long for me to figure out that the sweetness I was tasting came from that stick of cherry chapstick I’d sometimes see her pull out of her purse and I couldn’t help but wonder when she had found the time to put it on. Unless it lasted longer than I thought it did. Was it unusual that I spent more time thinking than I did kissing? Was that something abnormal to do when I was finally kissing my long-term crush of over seven years?

I felt that sharp stab of disappointment again and covered it up by trying to pry her mouth open a little wider, just enough to trace her tongue with my own.

Was this even gonna go anywhere?

I mean, I was making out with one of my closest friends no questions asked so why now? Armin said she thought I was sweet but-

I pulled away and reached for the remote to switch off the sound of gunshots in the background. I felt on edge and the noise from the television definitely wasn't helping me with my internal crisis. Was it normal to be asking myself all of these questions right now? _Was it normal to be thinking about other people!?_ I’ve always been so sure that I wanted to kiss Mikasa I mean, that in itself was clearly a fact so…

“Jean.”

And I definitely still liked her.

“Jean?”

_Right?_

“Jean, hey,” she grabbed my face with both hands to meet her eyes again, “Hey. If you aren’t comfortable we don’t have to continue. I can read the signs I’m not gonna make you do anything, alright? Don’t force yourself.”

She was still the voice of reason.

“I- uh, sorry,” I mumbled, settling back against the couch. She was still partially on my lap but I didn’t feel the need to do anything about it despite the situation. Things were still fine like this, “I think I’ve just got a lot on my mind tonight.”

“You don’t have to apologise,” she replied, smiling softly, “it’s cool.”

I nodded and rest my chin on top of her head. Her hair always felt really silky.

“So whaddya wanna do?” I asked and she shrugged and removed her hands, opting to trace my jaw line with her fingers instead.

"Well… I wouldn’t mind seeing where this whole thing goes?”

It sounded more like a question than a statement and I bit back a sigh, “Yeah, yeah uh- sounds good.”

“You mean it?”

It was weird to hear her talk like that. With that sort of tone.

She was usually always so calm and composed but when she spoke at that moment there was a hint of vulnerability to her voice. The type that made my stomach churn even harder and my insides twist with guilt. Fuck.

“Of course I do,” I mumbled back, fingers playing with the ends of her hair, “I can be sincere when I want to be.”

“Mm, I know,” she stretched her legs out and sat back against her side of the couch, tilting her head to the side to speak, “I just didn’t want to look like a complete twat.”

I nudged her side playfully and she let out a tiny laugh, snatching the forgotten remote out of my grasp to turn the TV back on.

“You could never look like an twat, Mikasa. You’re perfect.”

She shrugged and chewed her lip, “And you are very weirdly nice on the odd occasion nowadays. I think Armin is a good influence on you.”

I laughed, “Yeah, I guess so.”

She raised a thin brow in response and I soon felt the warmth of her hand as it slipped into my own between us on the couch. My grin widened when I saw her try to bite back a smile.

“Do you think that it feels better just to hold hands?” I asked before I had the chance to stop the words from spilling out, “Like, something about just kind of feels so intimate and compact, small, even?”

She looked confused for a second but she quickly reverted back to her usual soothing expression. I could see her thinking it over in her head silently before carefully answering, “I’m not really sure,” she shrugged, “It’s comforting? Yeah.”

“No but I mean, just- isn’t there sort of a, uh,” I scratched the back of my neck, “Does it not feel that way to you then?”

She shook her head, no.

“Whatever then. Forget it,” I mumbled, eyes flickering back to the TV with uncertainty, “It was stupid.”

She stayed silent and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was upset about what happened, even if she had just brushed it off and said it was no big deal. I looked down at our interconnected hands and found myself wanting to pull away. It was a childish thought and I reprimanded myself for it internally, knowing that I couldn’t just act like an asshole every time I didn’t like something she said, which was often at most. I still didn’t agree with the way she sheltered Eren and she knew that but maybe I was just being immature. It was her choice to do those sorts of things at the end of the day anyway. My thoughts strayed back to what Armin had told me this morning and I chewed my lip bitterly at what he had said about him. I shouldn’t start acting up just because Mikasa doesn’t share my stupid romanticized version of the world. I’d been told enough times that most of what I was saying was ridiculous. Finding ‘the one’ only happened in fairy stories. Eren teased me about it enough for me to know that much.

Maybe it was just me. I wasn’t exactly known for being the nicest guy around but I was an honest man. It was hard not to say what I thinking.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?” Mikasa hummed, eyes drifting away from the TV in order to look up at me.

“Earlier today Armin mentioned something about Eren and I wanted to know if it were true.”

She sat back and narrowed her eyes curiously, “Shoot.”

_She doesn't share your stupid romanticized version of the world, Jean._

_Don't act like an ass to her._

“Did Eren really argue with a guy he threw up on that time you drove them to an amusement park? Armin told me to ask you what he said."

She frowned and wiggled around a little in her position on the couch, “Mm... I think it was something along the lines of _‘you don’t have to be a weenie about it’_ and _‘I’m going to call my lawyer,’_ why do you ask?”

“No reason," I smiled, "Absolutely no reason at all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!Guess who is back with actual plot!! It's me!!!Woah!!! Don't worry though, guys. There will still be more fluffy friend adventures very soon.


	7. Rainwater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shoe shopping and the return of Leonardo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this update was a little later and a little longer than I expected but first comes first, I just wanted to say that this chapter is a bit of a filler, just so I can piece the story together all nice and simple. I also changed my user name to MagicalMajestys like my blog (so just a heads up.)
> 
> OH, BUT ALSO, I wanna say a big thank you to small-town-ink on tumblr for drawing some super awesome amazing art from chapter 6 [RIGHT HERE](http://small-town-ink.tumblr.com/post/126466259299/sometimes-i-wish-i-could-just-stand-here) !!!(look omg)!!! I also wanna just quickly thank the readers too because I feel like I haven't gotten the chance yet and you guys are being really sweet and asking me questions and I just <3 thank you!! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

“Tear. Come on, tear already, you piece of shit.”

I stared at the TV, doing my best to ignore the scene currently being played out inside my living room. It was raining and the sound echoed throughout the small room but fell on deaf ears, well, if the yells of distress beside me had anything to do with it. Yep, I’m staying out of it.

This month had started off pleasantly at most. I had turned twenty on the 7th and everyone came over to celebrate my ‘next step into adulthood,’ which was nice (it also gave me the chance to see my ma and make sure she was doing okay too). Connie even threw me a small party the day after, though it was more like a get together than anything. Sasha had baked me a cake in honour of my ‘oldness.’ It had been nearly a month since I’d kissed Mikasa for the first time and things had still been relatively normal since then. 

Well, about as normal as they could be with these two clowns hanging around.

“Connie, you’re not supposed to do it like that!”

“Then how else am I supposed to!?” he snapped and ripped the slice of pizza in half. Sasha let out a loud screech.

This past month the two of them had started dating each other (not that it made any difference whatsoever). They just behaved as they usually did, which said enough as it is. Who knew I'd be sitting inside on my day off, watching my best friends fight over a piece of pizza that had shitty ass toppings in the first place, oh wait! I did! Because my life is fucking lame. The noise was driving me up the wall.

“NO!”

For. Fucksake.

I growled exasperatedly and reached over to slap her hands away but that just made her more resilient, “Sasha, let go!”

“You can’t do that to a perfectly good pizza! There was no love in that whatsoever!”

“Who gives a crap,” Connie said, stretching his legs out along the carpet as he stuffed the torn up slice into his mouth, “I’m a monster, deal with it.”

Sasha whined and fell to the floor dramatically, reaching towards the box of pizza only to have it pulled away again, “Noooo.”

“Yes,” I scowled, blocking her outstretched arm with my foot, “You’ve already eaten most of it! Save some for us!”

She pounded both fists on the floor in defeat and pressed her face into the carpet to let out another muffled shriek. Connie just shoved another piece of pizza into his mouth and grabbed his game controller off of the ground, he’d lugged the stupid console over to my place earlier today and when I asked why he would do something so ridiculous whilst taking public transportation he was unable to think of a good response. Sasha, on the other hand, had only decided to turn up at the mention of food, which was pretty typical of her to say the least.

I sat on the ground in front of my couch and flicked through apps on my phone quietly as the two continued to battle it out on some crappy knock-off version of Mario Kart. I didn’t know who half of the characters were so I just sat back and watched while Connie continuously fired an onslaught of snowballs at Sasha’s car.

“Stop cheating!”

“I’m just playing the game!”

“Then stop launching shit at me every two seconds!” Sasha huffed, nudging his leg with her elbow from where she was still laying on her stomach, “No-!”

She slammed her controller down onto the carpet when Connie’s car slid across the finish line in first place. He howled with laughter and Sasha let out a string of curse words before starting up another match.

**_Sent today at 7:57pm_ **  
_Save me_

**_Received today at 7:58pm_ **  
_From?_

**_Sent today at 7:58pm_ **  
_tweedledum and tweedledee_

**_Received today at 7:58pm_ **  
_I’m out right now… We could meet up (??)_

Sasha screamed again and I winced.

**_Sent today at 7:59pm_ **  
_I can’t, they are at mine_

**_Received today at 8:00pm_ **  
_Bummer._

Well, thanks for the help sort-of-girlfriend.

Mikasa and I had a long talk last week about where we had wanted this whole thing to go and had ultimately decided that the best thing to do was keep it low-key. It was difficult but we were managing, kinda. No one else had caught on yet so that in itself had to at least be a positive outcome. 

But this was still mostly because we were unsure of how to address it.

I mean, how the hell was I supposed to tell Eren!? It wasn’t as easy as saying _‘hey, buddy ol’ pal, I know we still don’t exactly get along but I may or may not be banging your best friend of twelve years,’_ without getting punched in the face.

“Yo, Jean,” Connie called over to me from where he was perched in front of the TV, “Wanna play a couple of rounds?”

I rubbed my eyes and pressed my head back against the couch cushion, “Ughhh, do I have to?”

Sasha shoved her controller into my free hand and crawled over to the forgotten pizza box on her hands and knees. I guess I probably should have seen that coming.

**_Sent today at 8:03pm_ **  
_What did you have in mind?_

**_Received today at 8:04pm_ **  
_Shoe shopping. Just sneak out_

**_Received today at 8:04pm_ **  
_Meet me over at the plaza_

Shoe shopping at this time at night?

I kicked the pratically empty box away again and Sasha dug her nails into my leg. I screamed but Connie ignored the both of us, opting to set up another round of mediocre racing (with the unwanted bonus addition of ruthless attacks and behavioural problems). I didn’t really want to play or watch another match so I tried to weigh out my options as I wrestled one-handedly with Sasha, who didn’t seem to be giving up any time soon.

Was Mikasa really going shoe shopping or was that just an alibi? Maybe even a joke? No one would really go out this late to do such a small task, right?

I glanced back down at my phone and released the pizza box. Sasha squealed and fell backwards onto the ground, shooting me a confused glare at my sudden change of heart.

“I’m going out,” I sighed, “for shopping or whatever.”

I stood and Connie tensed up for about a second before glancing over his shoulder at the two of us. I don’t think he had actually registered what I’d said until an audible chewing sound came from where Sasha had already starting stuffing pizza back into her mouth.

“Dude-” he put down his controller after selecting his character and turned back to face me properly, “You’re ditching us?”

“Uhh…”

“He’s totally ditching us!”

“No I’m not!”

“Then hand over your phone,” Sasha chided, standing up and holding out her hand, palm facing upwards.

I took a step back and she ran at me, trying to swipe the device from the hand I was hiding behind my back. She missed and fell face first onto the carpet.

“I won’t be long! I just wanted to check something out!”

“You said you were going shopping!” Connie shouted back accusingly.

“I am!”

“Lies!” Sasha jumped up again and I decided to make a quick get away, running towards the door with her right on my tail.

She followed me outside and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get away without a reasonable excuse. Before I could think of anything to say, she shut the door behind her and I rose an eyebrow in confusion, quickly checking my back pocket for my keys. They were still there, thank god.

“This was supposed to be a pre-celebration!” she exclaimed, flailing her arms about, “Are you really gonna run out on us?”

“A pre-celebration- what?”

“For my audition…” she prompted, “the one for The Wizard of Oz!”

“Sash, you literally only showed up here for food.”

“Well, the timing is right and my audition is next week so come on, asshole!” she smacked my arm and shot me a pointed look, “Be happy for me.”

I sighed, “I am happy for you, okay. I’ve just gotta be somewhere real quick.”

“Jean Kirschstein…”

She looked knowing for a second and I panicked internally. She didn’t know about Mikasa did she? No, no, that was stupid- unless I was being too obvious about it face to face, Armin did tell me once that I was a terrible liar. But Sasha wouldn’t know I was seeing Mikasa specifically- she wasn’t bright enough to know that. Did she know I was seeing anyone at all? Sasha was kind of a pushover, I could just-

“Did you…”she trailed off, lips pulling up into a smirk, “…Did you get a booty call?”

What?

“ _What!?_ ” I hissed, covering her mouth with my hand when she burst into a fit of hysterics, “What? No- no! …Maybe?”

She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and I tried my best not to flush, “I’m not exactly sure, okay!?”

She gasped and I shushed her again, putting a finger to my lips to exaggerate the gesture, “Look. You can’t tell Connie anything. And by anything I mean _nothing._ Nothing happened, you got that?”

She nodded and I removed my hand, wiping it on my jeans. Ew.

“So I was right on the money?” she grinned and I scowled right back at her, “Who’s the lucky girl, huh? HUH!?”

She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, shoving at my shoulder eagerly to get me to talk. Well, that didn’t take long.

“Do I know her? Did you meet her at work- is it Hitch? I bet it’s Hitch isn’t it-!”

“Shut up, I told you I don’t know if it was a booty call or not, Jesus Christ!” I listened out for any signs of movement inside my flat but going by the silence, Connie still probably hadn’t bothered to get up from his spot in front of the TV, “-And no, it’s not Hitch! Just- just keep it on the down low. I’ll buy you McDonalds on the way back or something if you keep quiet and just…uh, stall for me.”

She squealed at the prospect of food and mock saluted me, “You’ve got it chief!”

“And don’t do anything gross in there like on my bed or anything, please.”

She shook her head and gave me another playful shove to my shoulder, “Right.”

“Behave,” I unlocked the door for her again and she slipped back inside, poking her head out again to hand me my jacket before I made my way towards the stairwell. She called out to me again and I swivelled around cautiously, unsure of what she was going to say next.

"TELL ME ABOUT IT WHEN YOU GET BACK!"

"No!"

“WHAT’S HER NAME!?”

I tried hard not to roll my eyes, “Who said it was a girl!?”

Her eyes widened in surprise.

“So it’s a guy!?”

“NO!” I yelled back, ignoring the rest of her shouts as I walked down the steps and made my way out into the car park. My face was heating up by then but the weather helped pass it off as a result of the cold. Mikasa didn’t say anything about bringing a car but it was a safe enough assumption, I wasn’t going to walk there at this hour anyway. If it was a “booty call” as Sasha had referred to it, we wouldn’t meet somewhere in public, would we?

I was still feeling pretty confused by the time I’d made it to the plaza and opted to send her another quick text asking where exactly I was supposed to be going. She replied instantaneously with the words **“SHOE SHOPPING”** written in bold capital letters and I sighed. I guess it wasn’t enough to hope that she would text me her exact location, unless she was planning to send me on a wild goose chase for half an hour. It was cold and I had forgotten my gloves on my rush to get out of there. At least Sasha had handed me my jacket before I left. My cheeks felt numb and I brushed my fingers against them as I walked, trying to revive any of the feeling in my face.

There weren’t many people around at this hour, mostly couples and groups of older people, probably out shopping together. For the short time I had been dating her, I couldn’t exactly imagine Mikasa and I doing those sorts of things without company, it would seem way too out of the ordinary. It was a nice sentiment anyway, taking walks in the cold weather and getting coffee together and crap. All the lights were nice too. They weren’t exactly as bright as the ones during the winter time but they were still very comforting at night.

I felt myself smile at the thought but thinned my lips in realisation because hey, I was still in public and I was still a jerk by all means. Gotta keep up that image. I glanced around at the few people wandering the streets and sighed mostly to myself. As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough to be wandering around alone, geez. Where the hell was she?

It took me a while to find my exact destination and it made me want to scream aloud when I looked up and saw a sign that read “Shoe Shopping” above one of the many stores aligned side by side.

Of course Mikasa would be as specific as possible.

I entered the store hesitantly and felt relieved at the warmth that washed over me when I stepped inside. But of course my small burst of tranquillity didn’t last long and I took in a large intake of breath when I heard a painfully recognizable voice call out to me.

“Hey, dickface! It was nice of you to finally show up!”

Jaeger.

He was sitting on one of the stools in the middle of the room, trying to shove his foot into a combat boot that looked suspiciously like the kind Historia wore on a daily basis. Mikasa was sitting on the floor in front of him, gracefully pulling on a pair of bright red converse.

“Uh, I thought- uh…” I frowned and scratched the back of my neck but Mikasa just raised both eyebrows in confusion. I thought it was going to be just me and her, why the hell was Eren here?

“Is Jean here?” came another voice from somewhere near one of the shoe racks beside them before a blond head of hair poked out behind it.

“I am,” I replied, wearily at best. I probably should have anticipated this.

I can’t believe I left Sasha and Connie alone in my flat just to end up as the fourth wheel.

“Sorry for making you drive all the way out here,” Mikasa said as if sensing my internal struggle.

“It’s cool, it’s a nice night.”

She shot me a small smile and tied her laces up the rest of the way. It was a strange place to want to meet up. Even stranger was that she didn't mention that Armin and Eren were here too. Maybe I would’ve preferred a booty call after all.

“So are you just gonna stand there or what?” Eren snickered and I had to refrain from walking straight back out. Mikasa was a saint for being able to put up with this douchebag.

“Give me a second,” I sighed, stuffing my hands into my pockets as I walked over to stand beside them, “I’m still kind of confused about why you wanted to meet here, I was looking around for ages. Who even names a store “Shoe Shopping” in the first place - it’s stupid.”

“It’s clear-cut,” Armin replied from where he was still standing behind shelves, “and Mikasa wanted to get some new spring-wear so we decided to go together.”

Well, that figures.

I looked down to where Mikasa was still sitting on the ground and offered her a hand to stand up when she finished tying up both shoes.

“It’s also good bonding time,” she affirmed, letting go of my hand to give my shoulder a soft pat, “If that means anything to you.”

I felt my face heat up at the statement and did my best to shoot her a small smile in return, “Uh- yeah. Yeah, I get it.”

“Cool,” she grinned, biting her lip softly and pulling at the rim of her floppy, black hat as she sauntered off to where Armin was standing.

Eren shot me a look that could only be perceived patronizing and pulled on another boot to match the other one he was wearing. He stood up and marched over to me, probably intending to size me up.

“I don’t know why Mikasa invited you but don’t go macking on her while we’re here.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I bit back but that only made him scowl harder (if that was even possible).

Jesus. If I knew Eren was here I wouldn't have shown up, full stop. What a twat.

I glared right back at him and he took a step closer. Yep, definitely sizing me up.

“You two gonna kiss already or what?”

Eren immediately jumped away from me, already on defense mode when mediocre bowling attendant, vampire guy appeared out of fucking nowhere. Like holy shit, where had he been hiding this whole time. He was a lot shorter than I remembered but just as mean-looking, and I recognized his face almost immediately. How many other people did they fucking invite!? Haven't they ever heard of the saying 'three's a crowd.'

“Levi, don’t be an ass,” Mikasa deadpanned from where she and Armin were still standing, before turning back to him, “Do you think I should get some heels?”

Armin shrugged, “Depends on whether you’ll wear them or not.”

Okay, so now I was _really_ confused. Was this a regular thing for them?

Eren was whining about something else now and I felt like a complete tool just standing around. I hadn’t even been in here ten minutes and I wanted to head home. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and pulled it check my messages quickly while everyone was preoccupied. It was Sasha asking where I was.

“ _Jean._ ”

Mikasa waved me over and I slipped my phone back into my pocket, “Don’t look so spooked, we are heading out soon.”

“Why is your creepy cousin here?” I hissed back, peeking out at him from where I was hiding behind Armin, “And why are you all shoe shopping together at 9 o’clock at night!?”

“His weird old people friends are here too, shopping somewhere next door,” Mikasa sighed, “it’s kind of a family thing but with, well, friends.”

“Then why did you invite me?”

“I needed new shoes!” she replied, lightly smacking my arm, “and your brutally honest opinion! Come on, what do you think of these?”

She held up a pair of dark brown heels and I stared back, unsure of how to reply.

“They’re uh…nice?”

I heard Armin stifle a laugh from behind me.

“Oh my God, you are super bad at this,” Mikasa rolled her eyes but she smiled all the same, “Armin, you were right.”

I rose an eyebrow in disbelief, “Armin said I would be bad at this?”

He shrugged and tucked his hair behind his ears, “Yeah.”

“I totally had your back,” Mikasa chipped in innocently, patting my shoulder for emphasis, “We wanted to put your opinion to the test.”

I narrowed my eyes, “So you called me all the way over here to prove a point, is what you’re saying?”

“Guilty,” her lips thinned and she placed her hand on my arm apologetically, “Don’t be mad, I’ll buy you a soft pretzel as a ‘I’m sorry’ gift.”

“Why does everybody I know try to bribe each other with food!?”

Mikasa shrugged and didn't answer the question, “Do you accept my bribe?” 

She tilted her head up at me and pouted jokingly. Dammit. 

I thought of the pizza I’d abandoned back at my place. Sasha had probably devoured the whole thing by now.

“Yes, I want the pretzel.”

She did a small fist pump with her free hand and Armin burst out laughing, covering his mouth with his parka when we both turned to look at him.

“Sorry,” he glanced over his shoulder at us, expression back to that default neutral, “It just didn’t take long for you to forgive and forget.”

“Who said I forgave,” I grumbled, reaching over to ruffle his hair, “You’re the one that said I was bad at critiquing fashion.”

He dodged my attempt and shot me a teasing smile, “Maybe because you are.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Pshh, whatever,” I replied as the bell above the door jingled and two more people entered. I recognized the man in front straight away from that time we had visited the bowling alley. I didn’t remember his name exactly but Eren ran over to start talking to him almost immediately, with creepy cousin Levi trailing slowly behind. I had no clue who it was that wandered in behind him though. Their face mostly covered by a knitted grey scarf and their glasses were perched precariously atop of their nose so all in all they were really unfamiliar.

“Erwin! Hanji!”

Armin quickly ran over to join them and Mikasa nudged my side with her elbow, glancing up at me to gauge my reaction.

“You ready to meet the family?” she teased and I met her smirk with one of my own.

“We haven’t been dating for _that_ long have we?”

She rolled her eyes and waved her finger in front of my face, “Not a word.”

I made a zipping gesture across my mouth and she pulled me along to where the others were standing. Levi looked just about as dead inside as he did at the bowling alley but he still hugged the other two when everyone had calmed down a little. Yeah, he was _a lot_ shorter than I remembered.

“Horseface, meet Erwin and Hanji,” Eren grinned, “Erwin and Hanji, meet horseface.”

“It’s Jean,” I said, reluctantly shaking Erwin’s hand. This did seriously feel like the same kind of awkward you would get at those family ‘get togethers’ where you didn’t know virtually anybody (that felt even worse when you were just a plus one).

He was friendly though, at least, which was a pretty good sign, “I remember you, Eren’s friend from the bowling alley.”

I almost responded with ‘unfortunately’ but I held my tongue. I didn’t know how far I could push it with these people just yet. Especially if Mikasa considered them family.

“Hanji Zoë!” The other grinned, shaking my hand with fervour, “They/them pronouns please.”

“Uh, it’s nice to meet you.”

Mikasa positively beamed.

We all made small talk while Eren and Mikasa bought their shoes before braving it out in the cold again. The atmosphere was chilled out and my nerves from officially meeting Levi and his friends wore off as we walked around the plaza, looking through store windows and laughing about whatever random topics came up. Hanji even told a bunch of embarrassing Eren stories and ya know, can’t get enough of those, right?

Mikasa stayed true to her word and bought me a soft pretzel and the two of us trailed behind at the back while Armin and Eren walked together at the front of the group, talking quietly to each other and pointing towards various shops in the distance. They were always so close to each other like, enough for it to be perceived in _that way_. I knew with Eren it obviously couldn’t be like that but for some weird reason that mentality still kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Mikasa hinted a while back that Armin liked guys but she couldn’t have meant Eren, could she? Not when she had liked Eren herself.

Why was everyone so interested in that douche anyway? I mean, what the hell did that guy have that I didn’t? He’s not THAT great, seriously.

“Hey,” Mikasa whispered, slipping her hand into mine when Eren ran further ahead of the group, pulling Armin along behind him, “We might go ice skating tomorrow, you know, without Erwin, Hanji and Levi so…You should come.”

“Mm,” I frowned. Mikasa liked me now so why was I still thinking about it? “-Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my chest but it didn’t make it seem any less uncomfortable.

Mikasa _was_ over Eren, right?

“Cool,” she smiled softly, “You should invite Sasha and Connie too.”

“Yeah, okay.”

She narrowed her eyes at me and reached up to pinch my cheek, “And stop looking like such a grouch, geez. It‘s gonna be fun.”

“Sorry,” I sighed, turning a deaf ear to all the laughter up ahead of us, “I’m just kind of tired.”

“At nine something at night?”

“Yup.”

She rolled her eyes in disbelief but a she was still smiling nevertheless, “You need a ride back?”

“I brought my car,” I replied, releasing her hand to wrap an arm around her waist, “No worries.”

“Does that mean I’m _supposed_ to be worried?”

“Probably.”

She laughed and my lips pulled into a smile, “Nah, you’re good.”

“Okay,” she said, “I believe you. Just drive safely, it’s dark.”

“It was dark when I drove out here,” I mumbled, checking to make sure everyone was facing forward before leaning down to kiss her cheek, “I’ll see you, later.”

She nodded and called ahead to tell everyone I was leaving. Eren cheered and did some odd combination of a jump and a kick and I tried my hardest not to roll my eyes. Armin’s goodbye was a lot quieter but I just chalked that up to him not wanting to scream across the plaza like Eren seemed to enjoy doing. The others just waved and said the typical and not so unexpected _“it was nice to meet you”_ crap and Levi well, he just kind of shrugged at me. But ya know, each to their own.

I made sure to pick up Sasha some McDonalds on the way home but when I got back she and Connie were halfway out of the door with their jackets on and game console under one arm. I ran up the rest of the staircase to catch them before they shut the door, sticking my arm out to stop them from getting past.

“Hey- I told you I was running an errand!”

“Yeah, well we didn’t think you were gonna come back so we just decided to head home,” Connie said, propping up the Xbox beneath his elbow with his free hand, “Where’d you go?”

“Out,” I huffed, glancing towards Sasha silently in acknowledgement, “I brought back more food to make up for before- just- you guys _can_ stay the night, right?”

Sasha smiled and snatched the paper bag out of my hands before stepping back inside my flat, “Well, it is a celebration after all.”

“What for?” Connie asked, screwing his face up in confusion. 

“My audition, dummy!” She exclaimed pulling him back inside and wrapping both arms around him from behind, “Jean told me he forgot something at Armin’s house so he went back to get it, he was just too embarrassed to say anything when he rushed out. Right, Jeannyboy?”

Truthfully, I had never been inside Armin’s house ever in my life but I kept my mouth shut and nodded along.

“See? And aw gee, he even bought us food as a sorry present.”

I nodded again at the last part because all in all, I did feel pretty bad for walking out on them without a good excuse. Sasha seriously deserved more than a lousy cheeseburger for thinking that one up.

“I bought drinks too,” I added apologetically, holding up the carrier and Connie rolled his eyes, securing the Xbox still under his arm.

“Then I guess I can forgive you,” he said, grin settling on his face, “Just as long as you got me fanta and not a coke.”

“How could I forget, ol‘ buddy of mine?” I replied and Sasha _awww’d_ in the background, finally detaching herself from Connie to put down the carrier bag full of game controllers and take off her jacket.

We reconnected the console to the TV and this time I took up their offer to play. Connie snickered and grabbed the paper Mcdonald’s bag from Sasha’s hands, peering around inside it to check the goods. He kicked back for a while, feeding Sasha the occasional fry whenever she drove her car off course as ‘encouragement.’

“Was this seriously the only game you brought with you,” I said as my car was rammed into for the fourth time by a character that looked suspiciously like Sonic the hedgehog. Yeah, that was definitely Sonic the hedgehog. Screw you, Sonic.

“It’s my favourite,” Sasha whined as she overtook me, “I like it!”

“Pfft, yeah, cause what’s not to like about a cheap knock-off version of Mario kart?”

“You’re only hating on it because you’re losing.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever played this game, cut me some slack.”

“You already used that excuse four rounds ago,” she said, gritting her teeth and nudging me in the ribs with her elbow to veer me off course, “Go hard or go home, Jeannyboy.”

I nudged her back harder and she fell sideways onto the carpet, making her car fall into the ocean, “NOOOO! Jean, you douche!”

“Go hard or go home,” I shrugged as my own crossed the finish line in 3rd place.

“You guys are a bunch of dirty cheats,” Connie said, taking a long sip of his fanta, “and you still sucked hardcore, I mean, what the hell is up with that?”

Sasha shot him a look of betrayal from where she was still lying on the carpet and spread her legs out to kick me. Nights in like these always made me realize how much I enjoyed hanging out with the both of them. It used to be a regular thing back in college, the three of us would always go get coffee in the morning together because we couldn’t function properly otherwise, or we’d head to the arcade after classes finished up and goofed around until we got asked to leave. Those were the days, just living large as your average seventeen year-old dirtbags.

Sasha made a grab for her drink on the table but bent the straw so she didn’t have to sit up. How she managed to do that without choking will forever be a mystery to me.

“So Jean,” Connie said as the game returned to the home screen, “What did you leave at Armin’s anyway?”

“Hm?” I grumbled, still staring at the TV.

“You weren’t carrying anything other than McDonald’s on the way in, so…?”

“He forgot his wallet,” Sasha replied, winking at me from where she was lying on the ground, “It had his work ID in it.”

God bless Sasha and her acting skills.

“That explains the food then, I guess,” Connie sighed from his position on the couch.

“Yeah, uh, sorry for taking so long,” I said, scratching the back of my neck, “We just got to talking and stuff.”

“Oh, no it’s cool, man. _I see_ how it is,” Connie snickered, giving me a exaggerated wink.

I scowled, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

"What what's supposed to mean?"

"That tone."

“Well, you know…”

“No?”

Connie groaned and dragged his hands down his face, “Just what were you guys _‘talking’_ about?”

I heard Sasha giggle beside me but I ignored it, still a little confused about what Connie was getting at, “Well he is going ice skating tomorrow, with Eren and Mikasa…”

“Pshh, so…?”

“So you guys wanna go? Sh- _he_ said that we could come with.”

Sasha looked put out for a second but agreed anyhow, “I guess.”

“Sure,” Connie shrugged, stretching his legs out and kicking me in the back in the process, “Ice skating is always nice in the springtime, the perfect medium.”

I rolled my eyes, “So we all in?”

“We’re all in.”

\----------------------------

“I’m kind of regretting this, should I be regretting this?” Sasha squeaked, digging her fingernails into my arm as Connie and I supported her across the ice.

It turned out Sasha had never been ice skating before and though we had known each other for a large portion of our lives this scenario had never really even occurred to us. I hadn’t been in a long time but I was pretty glad to note that I still had the technique down, things like this had always been my forte. Connie was average enough, and Sasha… Well, not at all.

“I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna fall,” she squealed, digging her hands harder into my jacket. I was almost certain she was going to leave a bruise the size of St. Maria on my arm.

“You’re not gonna fall, Sash,” Connie assured her, “Just hold on.”

“I AM HOLDING ON.”

Eren sped past with Historia in tow and stuck his tongue out playfully at me. She had been invited along last minute since it had ‘been a while’ apparently and the two of them had been skating around in circles the whole time.

“Hang in there, Sasha!” He called back encouragingly and Sasha nodded unsteadily, clinging onto Connie and I like a lifeline.

Historia gave her a quick thumbs up too as she and Eren raced across the rink again. At the other end, Armin and Mikasa were skating around hand in hand and the others joined them shortly. Things had been going on like this for over a couple of hours now but helping out Sasha was definitely the priority before Connie and I did any skating by ourselves.

“Move your feet a little,” I grumbled, trying to pull her forward but she shrieked and held on tighter in response.

“I can’t!”

“Maybe we should take a little break,” Connie suggested.

“No!” Sasha exclaimed, “No, no. I can do this.”

“Then _maybe_ I should take it from here, it‘s painful watching you three stumble around,” Mikasa said, skidding up to skate beside us, “Go chill.”

“Really?” Connie looked unsure but Sasha nodded enthusiastically.

“You guys go have fun,” she said shakily as she reached over to take Mikasa’s outstretched hand, “I-I’ll be fine.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am,” she smiled and Connie let go of her hand.

The two of us skated aimlessly around for a while but we kept a close eye on Sasha all the same. I knew she would be fine with Mikasa but part of me still felt bad about leaving her behind. Connie seemed to be thinking the same thing so we skated by often to see how she was doing and I had to say, Mikasa was a lot more successful in getting her to move than we were. Eren and Historia, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content on racing back and forth across the ice but Armin was nowhere to be found. I looked around for a little bit but I was absolutely certain he wasn’t anywhere on the rink.

“You... okay?” Connie asked, sidling up to skate beside me.

“Have you seen Armin?” I blurted out before I really thought about it, “He just kind of disappeared.”

“Nah, I haven’t seen him,” he replied, eyes still focused on Sasha who was now clutching the wall along the side of the rink with Mikasa at her side. He was silent for a second before snickering, “Why? Is big bad jeanbo worried about his lil angel? _Awww-_ ”

“Oh my god, shut up. Like you can talk,” I groaned, feeling my face heat up, “Anyone could see you staring at Sasha from a mile away!”

“Hey! She’s my girlfriend, man geez. I’m only saying that he’s probably just wandered off somewhere. You are so soft on him, for real bro.”

I scoffed, “I am not _soft_ on Armin.”

Connie shot me a look of disbelief and rolled his eyes. I saw him wobble a little bit on his skates but he quickly regained balance again, shaking his head when I stifled a laugh, “Yes, you are.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes, you are!” Connie exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air, “Dude, why don’t you just like, get off of the rink and look for him. Obviously he isn’t here.”

I sighed and came to a stop by the wall close to the exit. Connie gave me one of his ‘get on with it’ gestures and I stepped out of the rink, sticking my finger up at him from over my shoulder when he made mock kissing noises.

It didn’t take very long for me to find Armin, sitting on a bench somewhere beside the rink. His face was buried in his coat and his small fingers were cupped over his mouth, shaking where they weren’t covered by his sleeves. He looked up when I approached but didn’t make any indication that he wanted me to leave so I sat down beside him, gently prying his hands away from his mouth.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just a little cold,” he shrugged, pressing his fingers softly into my palm for emphasis, “See?”

I nodded and he removed them to brush his hair away from where it was sticking to his cheeks, “And I forgot my gloves so that was also pretty stupid of me.”

“I don’t have mine either,” I said, wiggling my own fingers in front of his face and he smiled.

“Yeah, but you are naturally warm.”

“I don’t feel it.”

“I feel it,” he said, eyes flickering up to my face, “I-I mean, your skin always feels really hot.”

I grinned, “Well, yours is always freezing.”

“Noted,” he agreed, cheeks growing noticeably pinker, “So why are you here and not on the rink?”

“I was uh, looking for you,” replied, licking my lips nervously, “You just kind of disappeared.”

He looked surprised for a moment, tucking his hair neatly behind his ears while I sat quietly, waiting for a response. It looked like he was thinking about something, going by the way he was tapping his fingers along the bench. But when he opened his mouth all that came out was, “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

I sat back and watched the others skate. I hadn’t even thought to look for Armin outside of the rink and silently berated myself for being so idiotic, you could see almost everything from here.

Connie had returned to skating with Sasha, who was growing fairly more and more confident by the minute. She still clung to the wall but she looked more determined this time and was actually moving her feet unlike before. It took me a while to locate Eren and Mikasa, who were talking casually whilst Historia glided along in front, doing little tricks on the ice whenever there was enough room for leverage. I turned back to Armin to make a comment only to find him staring right back at me, face still flushed. He turned away quickly and dug his fingers into his thigh.

“So, um…” he frowned and bit his lip, “Aren’t you going to go back out there, now that you’ve found me and all.”

“Yeah…” I scratched the back of my neck and tilted my head forward to catch his eye, “Or I could just not.”

He lifted his head slightly, glimpsing back at me when I turned up the charm and shot him one of my rare novelty smiles.

“That would be okay, I guess,” he shrugged but I saw the corners of his lips upturn all the same.

So maybe I was a _little_ soft on Armin but ya know, no biggie. I mean, we’d met in strange enough circumstances anyway. And he was sweet, like, really sweet. 

He was still fiddling with his hands in his lap and I had to force down the urge to reach out and take them ‘cause that would be weird, right? Even if it was just a casual _‘oh, I don’t know, you’re my friend and you look really, super cold thing.’_ When you’re dating someone, holding hands with someone else is surely 100% _off limits_. My chest throbbed and I exhaled slowly.

He just looked, really… _really_ cold. 

Armin snapped his fingers in front of my face to get my attention and I felt my skin heat up in embarrassment. What the hell was I even thinking!? I’m dating Mikasa! Hand-holding was totally not okay. There was absolutely no way I felt like that about Armin, no way in hell.

He squinted up at me and I tried my hardest not to blush, “You zoned out for a second there.”

“Sorry, I-uh…”

“Hey-!” There was a loud bang and Eren slammed into to the barrier in front of us. He didn’t seem hurt by the impact (unfortunately) and leaned forward to casually fold his arms over the top of the wall. 

Ugh, great.

“You feeling any better?”

Armin nodded and I resisted the urge to let out an exasperated sigh. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, Eren never seemed to have trouble drawing all of the attention to himself.

“Horseface isn’t bothering you is he?” 

“You’re the only one bothering anybody right now,” I scowled, “Don’t just butt into a conversation to play twenty questions.”

“First of all, I asked two questions, actually. Two very _valid_ questions since I care about my friend and his well being,” he replied glaring right back at me, “And two, I am not bothering, I’m being my usual compassionate self so don’t get your panties in a twist.”

“Whatever.”

Armin sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets, “I’m fine, Eren. Jean isn’t bothering me.”

He sneezed quietly and Eren didn’t look very convinced, but nodded anyhow.

“Okay, well, Mikasa wanted to go get some food soon,” he mumbled, expression softening, “And Sasha is getting kind of restless…so, yeah.”

“Guess there is no point getting back on the ice then,” I shrugged and Armin hummed in agreement, “Where were you guys planning to eat?”

Eren tapped the barrier thoughtfully before responding, “She didn’t say but I know where there’s a bakery somewhere around here. Or we could always just go to Starbucks for coffee and then eat in the park.”

There was another bang and Historia peeked over the barrier beside Eren, too short to see over it completely, “Did someone say coffee? Because I'm all for that, seriously, sign me up.”

“Hell yeah! Up top!” Eren grinned and Historia gave him a high five.

Armin scrunched his nose up in disgust, “Coffee’s gross.”

“Hot chocolate then?”

He shrugged and Historia whooped loudly, pushing back off of the barrier to tell the others. Eren glanced at her over his shoulder before turning back to us, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Can you guys go grab our shoes? We’ll wait here for ya.”

“Sure,” I said, stretching my legs before standing up again. It was always weird walking around on skates.

Armin didn’t seemed fazed by this, though. I guess he just wanted to get out of here already. We had to walk around about a quarter of the rink to get to the small booth we’d left our shoes at and in the end Armin decided that the best way to go about this was to stack them one on top of the other in order to easily carry them back.

“Just stick Sasha’s heels in Historia’s boots for now,” he said, standing on his tiptoes to shove the offending bright, purple pumps into the pair of combat boots I was holding, “Then we won’t drop any.”

“Are you sure this’ll work?” I replied, face screwing up in uncertainty, “I mean, I don’t doubt you but…”

“Let’s just- see. There, it works.”

I had to admit it was a lot easier this way, even if it was a little ridiculous. At least I knew I wouldn’t drop anything. Armin looked like he was trying to hold back a smile as he pulled another pair of shoes off the counter to replace his skates. We walked back together, shoes tucked safely in our arms.

“Geez, don’t look so smug,” I grumbled, “It was a good idea, alright?”

“I didn’t-” he paused, grabbing the sleeve of my jacket with his free hand to stop me from walking, “Wait, won’t the others need to go and return their skates anyway. There was no point in bringing them all there.”

I groaned. Fucking Eren.

“Well, they’re just gonna have to give them back when we’re leaving then,” I replied, “It’s not really a problem, just more work for us, less for them.”

Armin sighed and started walking again, “I feel kind of duped.”

“Well, that makes two of us then.”

Everyone was exactly where Eren said they’d be, all huddled together on the tiny bench laughing at something on Historia’s phone. Assholes. I dumped the shoes I was holding into Eren’s lap childishly and he shot me back a withering glare in response. Armin ignored both of us and wordlessly handed back Connie’s doc martins while Eren scrambled to pick up his own torn up trainers.

“Um,” Historia frowned, “Why is there someone’s heel in my boot?”

“Oh, that’s mine!” Sasha grinned, snatching the purple pump out of her hand before slipping it over a mismatched sock, “Thanks!”

Historia didn’t reply but she shot me an unreadable look in response and slipped her phone away to pull her own boots on, eyes never leaving my face. Geez, what was I a crook? It wasn’t even my idea! Sasha didn’t seem bothered about it at all, clicking her heels together loudly while the other put on their own shoes.

Mikasa unbuckled her own pair of skates and Armin handed her back her high-tops, “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“I am sooooo hungry,” Eren whined out of nowhere and Sasha nodded furiously in agreement, “Let’s hurry up and get out of here already.”

“Eren,” Mikasa sighed, nudging him with her elbow, “We are literally about to leave.”

“Ugh.”

Connie patted him on the back, “You’ll make it, buddy.”

“Pray for me.”

We all bought coffee and a bunch of other junk from the bakery Eren mentioned earlier before settling on eating in the park. We sat in a makeshift circle on the grass and I made sure to find a spot that was more green, less mud. Connie and Mikasa sat on either side of me, engaged in a conversation about Olympic athletes that I had absolutely no interest in joining. Historia was sat across from me, sipping silently at her caffé mocha. I still didn’t know much about her, even though we’d hung out quite a lot already this year. She just seemed more focused on other people than anything and only spoke about her own life whenever she was trying to get the upper hand on something, I noticed.

I was still left to wonder what her girlfriend Ymir was like. All I knew so far was that she was in a band (on tour, apparently) and that she and Historia had met in some hipster underwear store pretty much located in the middle of nowhere or ‘downtown,’ as she liked to call it. It was weird that she hadn’t even shown us pictures of her though, not even Eren, which was even weirder because those two seemed to get on like a house on fire.

Funnily enough the topic came up a couple of days later over lunch with Mikasa - was it even considered lunch if you were with your girlfriend? Probably. It seemed too uncanny to call it a date but I did so anyway, even if it felt more like hanging out with a good friend. It was probably just because that’s what I was used to. We’d known each other for seven years and that’s kind of a big deal.

“I think it’s weird,” she said, placing her elbow on the table to prop her head up in her hand, “I mean, we don’t even know what her girlfriend looks like, Jean.”

“Maybe she’s just un-photogenic.”

She rolled her eyes, “Don’t be a douche. I’m trying to be serious here.”

I shrugged, “I dunno, isn’t it kind of Historia’s business? Like I’ll admit, it’s pretty weird but who are we to judge - I mean, she’s not the one sneaking around going on dates at chipotle.”

“You suck. Burritos are god,” Mikasa replied, kicking me softly under the table, “If there’s no chipotle, there is no me.”

“So passionate, woah,” I snickered and she shrugged in response.

“You are really pushing it, right now.”

“Good.”

Her phone pinged and she pulled it out of her pocket to check the message.

Now here’s the thing. Mikasa never updated her phone, like ever. The text font was always way too small and hard to read and the layout was just really tedious. Like, so tedious that it was hard to even look at for longer than a couple of seconds. It wasn't exactly news when she'd told me that Eren had done his fair share of trash-talking to get her to change it, she refused every time because she ‘preferred it this way,’ which was weird enough in itself. But I still felt the compelling need to ask her the obvious question all the same.

“Who is it?” I leaned forward to peer at the screen and she turned it around to show me. God, what is that? Font size 2? Jesus.

She sighed impatiently, and shoved the screen closer to my face, “It’s Armin, he’s sick.”

“Sick from what?” I frowned. The last time I saw him was on Sunday. Was it possible to get sick so quickly between that short span of time?

“Ice skating, probably,” Mikasa shrugged, slipping her phone back into her bag, though she didn’t seem too bothered by it judging by the expression she was wearing, “Don’t look so wound up, he told me he’s fine. It’s just a cold.”

“Mikasa, whenever Armin says he’s fine he usually isn’t fine.”

“Mm,” she sat back in her seat and furrowed her brows, suddenly looking concerned, “Yeah. Yeah, I know. I was gonna go see him today but I’ve got work soon.”

I bit my thumbnail, “Are you sure he’s doing alright?”

“I don’t know. If you’re worried about him then you should just go and see him,” she replied, “It would be a really, really big help, Eren is in classes today so he can’t go.”

“And what exactly am I supposed to do when I get there?” 

Would Armin even want me there? I’d never been inside his house before and we weren’t anywhere near as close as he and Eren were, those two were practically attached by the hip. Compared to him I was technically just some sort of shitty consolation prize like _‘hey, you’re sick! Sorry, I’m not your best friend or anything but is it cool if I come over here and waste your time to cheer up my girlfriend?”_ Not that I didn’t want to see him because I definitely did. I mean, this was Armin. The guy that I’m supposedly _‘soft’_ on.

Mikasa pulled out her phone again and unlocked the screen, “Feed him. Bring food, sweet things. Like donuts or something.”

That definitely does not sound healthy.

“Uhh, are you sure?”

“Do I look unsure to you?”

She lifted her eyebrows and I shrugged, “Are you?”

“Of course I’m sure, Jean,” she said, smiling, “You guys are friends, he’ll probably be super happy to see you. Look.”

She held up her phone again for me to see, pointing towards the large chunk of text with a gazillion smiley emojis. Connie had shown Armin how to adjust the keyboard settings on his phone and in his own words told him that he ‘types like he’s ninety-two years old,’ which had understandably offended tiny, eighteen year old Armin. So now we were all suffering in emoticon hell along with him. I read the text above and tried to conceal the smile working it’s way onto my lips.

“Okay, I’ll go.”

She raised an eyebrow, “That didn’t take much convincing.”

No, it really didn’t.

I coughed and furrowed my brows, feeling a little bit confused at my own reaction “Yeah well, uh, I was worried.”

She slipped her phone away, folding her arms on top of the table with the smuggest expression I’d ever seen, “You’re getting soft.”

“Oh my god, why does everyone keep saying that!”

“Because it’s true, you used to be such a hardass,” she reached over to poke my arm, “Whatever happened to that, huh?”

“Pfft, like I know,” I shrugged, “Maybe I‘m subconsciously trying to turn over a new leaf.”

“You dote on people, that‘s fine,” she paused, bringing her hand up to tuck back underneath her chin, “Eren does the same thing. You’re a lot like him sometimes, you know?”

“Bullshit.”

The analogy pissed me off. I was nothing like that bastard.

I still didn’t exactly understand what she saw in him in the first place. Eren and I were friends but not exactly. If you asked anyone they would surely say the same thing. We could best be described as long-term acquaintances at most. I mean, he still didn’t invite me to any of his boozy, pre-planned parties so there’s that.

“It’s true,” Mikasa fidgeted for a second with her sleeve and glanced down at her watch, looking upset for a second before speaking, “Ah, shit. Sorry to keep this short and sweet, I’ve got work in a little bit over an hour so I should go-”

“What- Already?”

“Yeah. Get what I said and go visit Armin, Okay?”

She looked unsettled but I didn’t comment on it. If she wanted to talk about something she would. Mikasa was someone I could be honest with, that was one of the things that had fuelled the start of our unlikely friendship in the first place. She was blunt, I was blunt - we understood each other, simple as that.

“I’ll walk you to your car.”

She nodded and stood up, grabbing her bag off the seat quickly and quietly. We kissed goodbye and I made my way to my own car, thumbing through the contacts on my phone to bring up my recent messages from Armin. I sent him a text to tell him I was on my way over and he responded with a chain of smiley emojis similar to the ones he’d sent Mikasa, along with a cheerful sounding _‘Okay!’_

The sky was clouded over and I could already see the beginnings of rain spitting against the car window. It was the kind of weather you got used to seeing in Trost. The kind that screamed nights in, hot coffee, and a strange sense of melancholy that didn’t always feel entirely bad. I guess what I was trying to get through my thick skull was that it felt kind of nice to know what to do next for once. It made things a little easier to digest. And when I finally stopped off at the convenience store to buy what I considered a recipe for tooth decay the feeling still clung to me like a vice. Or anticipation. 

Blegh. Internal word vomit.

Rain always me feel weird.

\----------------------------

Armin’s house was small and tired looking in comparison to Eren’s home across the street. His front garden was pretty though, the bushes were all trimmed neatly and the flowers had obviously been planted accordingly, making it nice to look at. The road in between the two house was large and flat, and the aggregate always looked like it had been lay down only recently, despite appearing that exact same way for the last seven years. 

I was half excited, but mostly nervous about seeing the inside of Armin’s house for the first time, but the weather wasn’t really doing me any favours right then and there. The rain was full on pouring now, soaking my hair and making my clothes stick uncomfortably to my body. I probably should have brought an umbrella. That would have been a smart decision.

Thunder rumbled in the distance and I exhaled loudly when I felt cold water droplets slide down the back of my neck and underneath the collar of my shirt.

Yep, definitely should have brought an umbrella.

For some reason, the sprinklers in Armin’s front yard were still whirring away and I side stepped the jarring spray of water as I made my way up to the front door. I knocked loudly and waited in silence for a minute or two, trying to ignore the crackling of the sky the best I could. It was a challenge, to say the least. I should probably get a thicker jacket sometime soon.

I was about to knock again when the door finally opened, revealing what looked like a bundle of duvets with a bright pink bedspread placed right at the very top. Armin poked his head out from inside the makeshift igloo and I let out a soft snort, reaching out to pull the blankets properly away from his face.

“You’re soaked,” he observed and I shrugged.

“Well, it _is_ raining.”

“I can see that,” he replied, looking past me for a second before gesturing for me to come inside and ordering me to take off my shoes.

He was wrapped head to toe in brightly coloured blankets so it was kind of hard for me to take him seriously in that moment. His nose was bright red and going by the purpling skin beneath his eyes, it looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep lately either. I shed my jacket, thankful that the rainwater hadn’t soaked through my shirt too badly.

“Wait there,” he took the plastic bag filled with junk food out of my hands, “I’ll get you a towel to dry off.”

“How awfully considerate of you!” I called back and he laughed softly in response before heading up the stairs next to the entrance.

At least it felt a lot warmer in here than it did in my car. I still hadn’t bothered to get the heating fixed but that was pretty much the last thing on my mind. Armin came back about a minute later and handed me a towel to dry off my face. I followed him into the living room and he placed the bag down onto the couch before reaching up to smooth down one of my eyebrows with his finger.

“Why didn’t you bring an umbrella, you complete numpty,” he whispered and I shrugged in response. He fussed over the dampness of my skin and I tried to conceal a grin but ended up failing miserably.

“I didn’t think I’d need one. I was gonna head straight home but Mikasa said you wanted to see me.”

He flushed and removed his hand from my face to pull the blankets draped over his shoulders tighter around his small frame, “I didn’t think that she would tell you that.”

“Well, you thought wrong.”

He narrowed his eyes, “I didn’t think you would want to.”

“Wrong again.”

“Well,” he sneezed and immediately turned away, grabbing a couple of tissues from a box on the coffee table, “I appreciate the sentiment.”

“Then don’t look so sad,” I replied and he let out a small sigh, pulling the blanket back over his head like a hood.

“I’m ill, Jean.”

“Yeah but I got you food. Isn’t supposed to like, cure you or whatever?”

It looked like he was analysing me again for a second before he made a grab for the plastic shopping bag again, small hands scrambling around inside until he just decided to tip the contents on the couch. He plopped down onto one of the cushions and grabbed my arm to pull me down beside him.

I made sure to avoid crushing any chocolate bars on the couch while he trifled through the things I bought, settling on a king size bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups.

I was going to comment on how unhealthy it was to be eating junk food when he was sick but he had already pulled the packaging open, fingers sliding clumsily against the wrapping.

“I was so hungry. I‘ve literally been drinking tea all day,” he moaned, leaning his head on my shoulder before shoving one into his mouth, “I’m going to cry, marry me.”

“Pfft,” I cracked a smile, “What no ring?”

He paused and slowly lifted his head to look up at me.

“I was talking to the food, Jean.”

“Oh.”

He let out a cute little snort and covered his mouth with his hand but it soon turned into coughing. I thumped him hard on the back and he covered his face with his hands, the skin underneath growing redder by the second.

It was strange seeing him like this. It just made him appear even more fragile than usual. He sat like that for a while and I reached into the packet he had opened to pull out a chocolate for myself.

“I’m so gross,” he mumbled, shaking his head profusely, “How can you even stand to be near me right now.”

“I dunno,” I replied, shooting him a teasing smile before reaching out to ruffle his already mussed up hair, “You sure do look a mess.”

“Thanks,” he removed his hands from his face and bit into another peanut butter cup sulkily.

“Soo…What have you been doing all day?”

He continued chewing and rest his head back against the couch absent-mindedly to stare at the ceiling, “Studying, mostly. Finals start in July and it’s a weekday so I might as well.”

“But it’s April.”

“Yes?”

I leaned forward in my seat to meet his gaze, “Why are you studying in April?”

He sat up properly and shot me a look of concern, “April is almost over, Jean. What else did you expect me to do?”

“Rest, maybe,” I shrugged, “Isn’t that why you took a day off?”

He looked confused, “Rest how?”

“God- Armin,” I sighed, “I dunno. Take a nap, watch a movie maybe?”

He seemed to consider this for a second, watery blue eyes drilling holes into my face. It was always kind of creepy when he did that, like he was trying to see inside my head or something.

“Geez, I didn’t think you’d need this much coaxing,” I grumbled when he didn’t reply and instead opted to stare back at the ceiling, “Come on, speak.”

“I’m just thinking.”

I frowned and he turned back to face me, tucking one side of his hair behind his ear so the scar just beside it was visible. I couldn’t say I wasn’t curious about where he’d gotten it. My eyes ghosted over the rest of his face and he inched closer, uncertainly.

“What are you looking at?” he asked suddenly, bringing his hand up to the side of his face to brush against his ear. He didn’t seem very alarmed, just curious.

“You.”

I saw his eyes widen and I immediately felt embarrassed.

I didn’t mean for it to sound flirtatious. It was an automatic response but I felt my face grow hot at what kind of indications it held. I was going to apologise but Armin cut me off, scrunching his nose up in thought.

“Since you’re here I can’t exactly nap…” he trailed off and I felt offended for a moment before he continued, “Let’s watch a movie.”

Well, it didn't exactly take him long to change the subject.

“Uh, you know those aren’t the only two options I’m giving you, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” the corners of his mouth upturned into that quirky smile of his, “but it’s a good idea.”

He stood up and shrugged off the blankets draped around his shoulders and I felt something warm stir in my abdomen.

It was the first time since my shopping trip with Eren and Historia that I had seen Armin in shorts. And not just regular shorts, literally the shortest shorts I had ever seen first-hand in my whole entire life, now fitted with thigh-highs to the boot. Okay, so maybe I was exaggerating a little bit but it was just one of those things you know you _should not_ be thinking about but can’t help but think about. It was taboo. For sure. Especially if you had a girlfriend.

“Wanna see my room?” he hummed, stepping around the coffee table and reaching over on his tiptoes to flick on a plug behind the small TV.

I blinked back stupidly, “Huh?”

“All the movies I have are upstairs.”

“Oh, oh right. Y-yeah, sure,” I replied as calmly as I could manage. God fucking dammit. You aren’t fooling anyone, Jean.

He squinted at me dubiously for a moment before gesturing for me to follow him upstairs.

Don’t look. Don’t fucking look.

It doesn't count if he's a guy, right?

“Um.”

He stopped at the top of the steps and turned around, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

Shit. _Shit._

“Are you sure you aren’t getting sick too?” he said, folding his arms across his chest, “You look sort of red.”

Nope, I’m just staring at your butt. Real sorry about that.

I cleared my throat, doing my best not to appear flustered, “It- uh, maybe, haha.”

“Okay…“ He raised both eyebrows before turning back slowly to continue walking and I trailed behind him, this time opting to focus on his stripy orange socks.

I was a terrible boyfriend. Mikasa would probably murder me if she knew what I was thinking about right now. I reached up to touch my neck with my hand and shuddered at the thought. She’d definitely throttle me, without a doubt.

“It’s a bit messy, so sorry about that,” Armin said, pushing his door open, “it’s pretty small too, so yeah. Welcome.”

Now, usually when people used the term ‘messy’ to describe their room you’d instantly assume that it was sterile as shit. But lord, oh lord, was I wrong.

There were books littered about the floor and papers splayed out on top of a tiny blue desk in the corner with an open laptop lying right on top of the pile in the centre. His bed was unmade and had various lumps sticking out of it from underneath a single yellow blanket placed precariously on top (that must have been where he’d taken the duvet from) and it was difficult for me to me make out what they were. The room wasn’t necessarily dirty but it was most definitely untidy.

One thing that particularly stood out though was the multiple pictures tacked sloppily along the walls. Armin head towards his desk while I admired them. Most of them were photos of landscapes but there was also the occasional picture of Armin, Eren and Mikasa, from what I assumed was probably a couple of years back and some of them even older. Eren and Mikasa definitely looked a lot younger.

“Eren took these,” Armin said, pointing towards the landscapes from where he was shutting down his laptop, “He’s always been really into photography.”

“I figured, yeah,” I responded, “You guys have been friends for a long time.”

“Yeah,” he smiled, walking over to where I was standing to point towards one of the photos placed highest at the top, “This is the first photo the three of us ever took together, well, actually my grandpa took it. But we were only nine there.”

They all looked so small, “Woah, really? Uh-”

He glanced owlishly up at me.

“Where’s your grandpa now?”

“Gardening club,” he replied fondly before tapping my arm gently to regain my attention, “Help me pick a movie?”

Well I guess that explains all the flowers then.

I nodded and he wandered over towards the bookshelf across the room and started searching along the middle shelf. I was about to join him but when I turned back around I finally caught a glimpse of what was hiding underneath the thin blanket on his bed.

“Is that... Leonardo?”

Armin jumped and span around to face me, embarrassment sewn onto his features, “How did you remember his name?”

“What? Are you kidding!? You think I would forget?” I grinned, sidestepping the bedpost in order to swipe up the teddy bear from underneath the cover, “He is like a memento of the second time we met!”

He chuckled and ditched his spot beside the bookcase to make his way back beside me, “Well, it’s just a teddy. I didn’t exactly peg you as someone who would care about that sort of thing.”

“Then what did you peg me as?”

He tilted his head to the side to stare up at me, probably trying to come up with a sensible answer to my question.

“I’m not exactly sure.”

I laughed and he plucked the bear out of my hands, burying the bottom half of his face behind its fluffy head.

“I think Leonardo might have pegged you as kind of a jerk, at first,” he continued, “but he’s happy you came to visit him.”

“What are we, five years old now?” I teased and he nodded playfully back.

“I’m sick so I’m allowed to act five right now.”

“You got any disney movies then? Something age appropriate.”

“You can watch disney at any age, Jean,” he replied, still clutching Leonardo tightly against his chest as he scanned the movies lining the shelves, “You wanna watch Treasure Planet?”

"Sure-" I paused, "wait, you have it on VHS?"

He shrugged and pulled it out of the rectangular case, “Sue me.”

“God, you’re such a nerd,” I chuckled, taking it out of his hands to examine it, “I haven’t seen one of these since I was a kid.”

“Then it’s settled,” he said, squeezing Leonardo again, “That’s what we’re watching.”

I followed him downstairs, watching silently as he set up the video player and inserted the tape. The old Disney format showed up on screen and Armin scuttled back over to the couch and plopped down beside me, wrapping the forgotten blankets back around himself.

“You’ve watched this before, right?” he asked, reaching towards another bag of sweets to open them, “It’s one of my favourites.”

“Obviously,” I replied, eyes focused on the screen as the ads started up. It was all pretty old stuff like Aladdin and the King of Thieves and even 101 Dalmatians and I couldn’t help but wonder if Armin even owned an actual DVD player from like, the 21st century. 

The thought must have translated to my expression because I felt him nudge me with his elbow a little from underneath the blanket a second later.

“Stop judging me. I’m proud of my movie selection skills.”

“Sorry,” I replied unapologetically, “Just kind of forgot I was still living in 1994.”

“This movie is from 2002!”

“Old.”

“You’re old, be quiet,” he pouted and shoved a sherbet into his mouth, “You’re the one who said you wanted to watch Disney. Leonardo is disappointed in you now.”

He held Leonardo up to his face for emphasis and shot me a look of disapproval from behind his fuzzy brown ears. It was a childish gesture and I was sure he did it purely to wind me up. It worked.

I snatched the bear out of his arms and he squeaked, immediately breaking out of his blanket burrito to grab him.

“Nope, no. You aren’t getting this back.”

“What, why!?” he jumped up onto his knees to try and reach for it but I leaned back, holding the bear over the side of the couch. Bless these long arms o’ mine.

“Because I know you are gonna channel your emotions through this bear the entire fucking time we watch this movie.”

“Hey-!”

“Nope.”

“Leonardo doesn’t deserve this, Jean!”

I dangled the bear higher up and he retaliated by trying to crawl over me to snatch it from my hand but I definitely had the bigger advantage. We spent a good thirty seconds wrestling for it but regardless of Armin’s small sniffles from time to time, he didn’t seem to be giving up.

“I’m going to make you sick.”

“Don’t care.”

“You’re being really immature right now,” he huffed, digging one elbow into my chest while the other swung wildly in the air to make another grab for the bear.

“You’re the one with the teddy bear.”

“His name is Leonardo! Don’t act like you don’t know it!”

I grabbed his wrist with my other hand and he wiggled around on top of me.

“Say please.”

“Give him back!”

“ _Please_ give him back,” I replied mockingly and he shot me his best glare, which wasn’t at all intimidating in the slightest, “Saaay it.”

He froze where he was straddling my stomach and I felt the arm I was holding up go limp in my hand, “No.”

“No?”

He shook his head, lips pulling up into that sweet, quirky smile of his. Shamelessly catching me off guard.

We stared at each other unblinking for a second and I shrieked when I suddenly felt his fingers tickling my side. The grip I had on his wrist loosened up enough for him to pull away and snatch Leonardo out of my hand. It took me a while to recover (mostly from shock because who knew Armin liked to play dirty, huh) and I shook my head in disbelief. He cheered and I finally managed to sit up, making him slip off of my lap and back onto the couch.

“Cheat.”

“You were being mean,” he replied, sticking his tongue out at me when I sighed in defeat, “Poor Leonardo.”

He pet the bear’s head and I rolled my eyes.

“Are we gonna watch this movie or what?”

“What, the movie that you said was _old?_ ”

“Yeah.”

“Sore loser.”

He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and pressed play button on the menu screen that had been replaying the same song at least three times by then. We sat in silence through the first quarter of the movie, occasionally snacking on the sweets we left littered on top of the couch cushions. The quality of the movie was surprisingly okay and soon enough Armin and I were in a heated debate about Long John Silver’s intentions.

“Listen- If Silver wasn’t bad at all then he wouldn’t have considered killing Jim.”

“But he didn’t because that would jeopardize their friendship.”

“But he considered it.”

“So,” Armin folded his arms crossly, “He still didn’t.”

“You are taking this way too seriously.”

“So are you!”

I rolled my eyes and he kicked my arm from where his feet were lying in my lap.

“Brutal,” I snickered and he shrugged in response, turning his focus back to the TV. His face looked a little redder than it had before and I didn’t exactly know if that was a good thing.

“You’ve taken medicine and stuff, right?”

“Why? Do I look worse?” his voice was composed but it was also laced with concern, “Eren was supposed to bring me some stuff over but I think he had classes today.”

Eren again, _seriously?_

“He shouldn’t make promises he can’t keep.”

“I think it was last minute.”

I furrowed my brows, “I don’t get what everybody sees in that prick.”

_It’s not like he’s anything special._

Armin shrugged, “I know you guys don’t really get on but he’s a good guy. He’s always kind of looked out for me.”

His face flushed a little darker and he tucked both sides of his hair behind his ear before continuing, “He was my first real friend.”

When he said that I felt like a bit of a douche. Of course Armin values Eren above all else, they’d been together since they were little kids. Ughhh, I'm a jerk. He said something else but I was only half listening now, eyes occasionally drifting back to his face when he pulled a particularly funny expression.

“…It’s weird having so many friends now,” he sighed and I refocused my attention, “You know, you, Sasha and Connie, Historia.”

“Yeah those guys are a riot,” I replied and he hummed softly in agreement, “It’s fun hanging out with a bigger group of people.”

“Yeah…” he trailed off, pulling Leonardo back against his chest, “It’s good fun.”

I rose an eyebrow and he laughed in a way that almost sounded nervous, fingers toying with the wispy strands of blond hair that curled just behind his ear, “But I also kind of like it when it’s just the two of us.”

The words made my stomach flip-flop a little bit and he smiled uncertainly, as if waiting for some sort of verbal permission to assure that this was okay.

“Y-yeah,” I responded shakily as his eyes continued to drill holes into the side of my face, “I like it when it’s just the two of us- too.”

"Awesome," he breathed.

"Awesome."

\----------------------------

“Woah, woah- dude!” Sasha ran up beside me just as I was about to clock in for work. I fucking hated the supermarket but if worst came to worst, it was pretty okay money for now. Not like I had any choice, “You look like you belong on the set of the walking dead. You alright?”

I sneezed and wiped my nose with the back of my hand, trying to look as threatening as I possibly could in this situation, “I’m fine, leave me alone.”

Sasha didn’t budge and instead of listening to what I had to say she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her hand against my forehead, looking calculating for a second before she spoke again.

“You’re sick.”

“I am not sick.”

“Uhhhh, I’m sorry, stop-!” I ignored her but she grabbed my wrist before I had a chance to slip my card into the slot, “did you even look in the mirror this morning before you left your flat? Because you look like fucking shit.”

“Well, I apologise for not living up to your standards of beauty,” I replied and she rolled her eyes, “Now kindly let go of my arm or I will scream. Thank you.”

“Stop being jerk, come on. Go home.”

“You’re not my boss.”

“Go home, Jean.”

We stared each other down until Marlo (a.k.a. bowl-cut Eren) walked by to clock in, uncaring of the fact that Sasha still had firm grim on my arm and that we were both blocking the only way in.

“Sasha, let go.”

“Jean, you need to rest. Seriously,” she sighed, brushing lose strands of her ponytail away from her shoulder, “Don’t overwork yourself. Wasn’t that the point of getting this job?”

“Actually the point of this job is to make money,” Marlo butt in as he tried to find a way around us, “Can you guys-”

“ _Shut up, Marlo!_ ” we replied in sync and he stepped back, holding his hands up in surrender.

“Go home,” Sasha finally let go of my wrist and folded her arms across her chest, “The manager isn’t here yet. Call in sick.”

“You know you shouldn’t really be-”

We both shot Marlo another glare and he groaned exasperatedly into his hands.

When Sasha put her hands on her hips I finally gave up and exaggerated a loud sigh before I walked away, flashing my ID card at her before slipping it into my pocket.

“GO AND DRINK SOME HERBAL TEA!” she screamed after me and I waved her off, “RASPBERRY AND ECHINACEA IS ALWAYS A GO TO!”

“Stop yelling!” I called back as I made my way out of the double doors round the back, “I got the memo.”

It was raining as I left but I had remembered to bring my umbrella this time. The streets were always empty so early in the morning and I got that strange melancholy feeling again, the kind that always followed me around on cold days like today. I got to my car and turned on the ignition but I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the heater whirring again over the hum of the engine. It was a simple victory but it was enough to put a smile on my face after having to battle with this frozen chunk of machinery over and over again for the past year and a half.

I was used to rain by now but I guess in that moment, even with the goosebumps on my skin and the throbbing of my head, it didn’t feel entirely bad.


	8. B.R.A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shakespeare, helium balloons, and alpacas?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, okay. So I have no idea how this chapter is nearly 10k words but somehow it happened?? I'm excited to start typing up the next chapter to make up for whatever this bloody mess right here is so I'm sorry if its a bit lame. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter though anyhow !!!
> 
> (Edit: Also, I forgot to mention. I track the tag "fic: JTSBBN" on tumblr now because i've been finding it really difficult to find the stuff people are posting in the tag with the full title, so just a heads up!)

“Shakespeare!?”

“That’s right!” Sasha squealed, slapping my shoulder with her script, “I got a part in A Midsummer Night’s Dream! You’re looking at the brand new Titania!”

I had vague memory of what the play was about. Sasha had gone off on a tangent about ‘love’ and ‘timing,’ and fate or whatever. I think I remembered reading it in a children’s book once but she insisted that it was an art form and that I needed to ‘get with the program.’

“What so you’re like a fairy now?” I frowned, still partly confused, “I thought you wanted to be Dorothy.”

She sighed and put her hands on her hips, “Yes, Jean. I am a fairy. Dorothy isn’t even in this play, you ass.”

“Well, whatever happened to The Wizard of Oz?”

The question obviously irritated her and she shot me a pointed look in response.

“Things change, Jean.”

“But a whole play?”

“I like this one better!” she smacked my arm with the script again, “ Listen. Hey!”

“Ow-!”

“Are you guys gonna even bother to help?” Eren grumbled as he breathlessly lugged a large canister of helium through the hallway, “Or are you just gonna stand there playing house all day? ‘Cause I’m throwing this party tonight and I’m beginning to think inviting you here for set up was a mistake.”

“Don’t cry, Jaeger. Jesus Christ,” I snapped back and he glowered at me, “We have like four more hours.”

“That’s not enough! They might get here early!”

“Well, maybe you’re just being too fussy!”

“You’re too fussy! Shut the fuck up!”

“Eren,” Mikasa sighed, poking her head out from behind the doorframe to the living room, “Don’t stress yourself out.”

He gestured wildly at me with his hands and I did my best to refrain from aggressively retaliating.

Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie were in town this weekend so we’d all brainstormed and eventually decided to throw them a welcome back party. Eren’s house was always the go to place for events and since his dad worked full time at St Maria’s hospital it was pretty much always a parent-free zone. Though, of course the biggest flaw in this plan was Eren Jaeger himself. He was taking it as seriously as ever and assigned each of us separate jobs to do in order to plan the ‘perfect’ party. But instead of the nice casual planning session I’d hoped it would be, it was more like fighting about what cake we should buy and screaming. And now Eren was upset and that was stupid enough in itself, because obviously no one was going to do anything right. Sasha and I were supposed to go out and buy more decorations like streamers and shit but we still hadn’t even left the house yet.

“Why are you guys still here?” Mikasa continued, shooting us a look of disapproval, “Talk script later, okay? Eren- hey, let me help you. Stop.”

He took a deep breath and pushed the canister towards Mikasa, who lifted it up with ease and carried it into the living room. Eren muttered something angrily under his breath and Sasha held her hands up in defense, quickly shuffling backwards to take the front door off of the latch.

How they were going to make this work, I had no idea.

Sasha complained about how tiring this whole day was all the way to my car and I eventually had to put the radio on to shut her up. I could already tell how obnoxious this task was going to be when we finally got to the party store, and it was only when we were arguing about what colour the balloons should be did I realise how ridiculous this whole thing was.

“Just shove whatever you want in the basket, I don‘t even care anymore,” I sighed and Sasha dropped seven boxes of glow sticks into it triumphantly, “But stick to the budget.”

“I am,” she replied, “Do you think we should have a theme?”

I shrugged, “Only if you wanna put in the extra effort.”

“I think Eren probably has some lights left over from Christmas.”

“God forbid you do anything to set him off.”

She pouted and tossed a couple of packets of jumbo balloons into the basket I was holding.

We walked through the other aisles, looking for anything that seemed appropriate for the occasion. The store was freezing cold even in May and Sasha recited lines from the script she was holding, skipping ahead to look at some of the costumes they had on display.

“Hey,” she snickered, “Hey, Jean.”

She stood grinning at the end of the aisle and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when I caught sight of what she was laughing at.

“What?”

She pointed towards a Freddy Krueger mask hanging up on the wall by a hook and giggled again, “It’s you.”

I scowled and grabbed another creepy looking alien mask off the rack beside it and pulled it over her head, messing up her ponytail at the back. She squealed and started waving her arms around, eyesight most likely cut off by the green rubber part of the mask.

“Now you can return back to your homeworld, weirdo.”

“Shut up, Jean,” she huffed, peeling the mask off her face with one hand, “You’re so mean.”

“I sure am,” I replied rather vacantly, eyeing some of the other products on the shelves above the one where she’d found the mask, “Wanna get some silly string?”

“Duh,” she grinned again and nodded, pulling the mask off of her head completely before hanging it back up on the hook. I took a can off the shelf and put it the basket but Sasha reached up and grabbed about ten more.

I was going to remind her about the budget but I figured it couldn’t hurt to get a few fun things too.

“This is not a kids party,” Eren said when we got back, emptying our shopping bags onto the couch in his living room, “What the fuck is this!?”

He held up the glow sticks and shot us an incredulous look.

“Um,” Armin leaned over his shoulder from where he sat behind him, pointing at the label on the box, “Glow sticks.”

I saw Eren take a deep breath inwards and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing. I heard Sasha let out a muffled snort beside me and she turned around to cover it, burying her face in my shoulder.

Armin sat back properly in his seat but I was sure he had also done his fair share of winding Eren up too while we were gone. Even Mikasa had cracked a couple of well-executed jokes during the day about his temperature and party planning critique.

“It’s fun stuff,” I snickered, “Come on, Jaeger. Live a little.”

“I am living,” Eren hissed back, covering his eyes with his hands, “It’s times like this that make me wish I wasn’t.”

“We’ve still got time left,” Armin reassured him, putting a firm hand on his shoulder, “We just have to decorate and then we’re all good.”

“I still can’t believe you invited us to help,” Sasha hummed, glancing around the living room “Especially after last time we-”

I elbowed her in the side and hissed at her to shut up.

“Ugh, whatever. Just think of this as you guys repaying your debt,” Eren waved his hand dismissively, “My dad didn’t find out about the water thing so that’s all that matters. There are a lot of people coming tonight and I don’t want to fuck this up.” 

Mikasa poked her head around the doorframe, phone pressed to her ear, “Historia wants to know if its okay to bring lemonade.”

“Tell her she can bring whatever she wants.”

“So Historia can bring lemonade but we can’t bring glow sticks?” I asked and Eren narrowed his eyes, “Uh, rude.”

“Jean,” Armin warned, shooting me a pointed look.

“Just saying.”

“I’m gonna go and take a shower to cool off or whatever,” Eren sighed, standing up from his seat and stuffing his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, “Just get the decorations up, give Connie a call if he isn’t here in half an hour, and then you guys can leave. Armin check the budget.”

“Kay, boss,” I replied jokingly. God, he nags more than my mother.

He skulked off into the hallway and Sasha and I plopped down on the couch beside Armin to look through the stuff we bought.

Okay, so maybe we did go a _little_ overboard.

Armin looked partly concerned at the amount of silly string we’d bought but Sasha didn’t seem to see any problem with that, contentedly reading her script as Armin squinted at the receipt.

“You sure got a lot of balloons,” he mumbled, looking back and forth between the packets in front of him.

“We couldn’t decide on the colour.”

“Right…”

Armin was smart but he didn’t seem to know about party planning from the looks of things. He seemed more worried about the price of the stuff we brought back above all.

“This isn’t within budget.”

I shrugged, “I used my own money.”

Armin frowned and looked back down at the receipt. It was silent for a few more seconds before he sighed in defeat and tore open a packet of balloons, “Let’s get started then.”

Sasha cheered and jumped off of the couch to drag the helium tank closer to where we were sitting and we started on the decorations shortly after. The room looked crowded with all the balloons but Eren had a big house, he could probably handle it. Connie arrived around twenty minutes later with two large eco-bags, one of them was filled to the brim with CD’s and the other contained some sort of stereo equipment and a bunch of wires and weird cables. He looked startled as he walked in.

“Jesus Christ, that’s a whole lot of balloons.”

“I know!” Sasha danced across the marble floor and chucked one of them at him, “Isn’t it great!”

He put the bags on the ground and chucked the balloon back at her but it floated upwards to join the rest of them on the ceiling. Armin looked up from where he was clearing a space on top of the table we’d pushed into the room from the lounge earlier this morning.

“You can set up over here,” he said and Connie nodded, walking over to where he was standing to pull out his sound system.

Connie DJ’d at clubs on the regular but he mostly switched from gig to gig to earn some cash on the side. He took pride in all of his up to date tech but lugged it around carelessly. He didn’t even have a car so he tended to sway more towards using public transport, which wasn’t exactly the smartest idea when carrying around £1000 sound equipment.

He started laying out his stuff on the tabletop and Armin made his way to the door and pulled his coat off the rack in the hallway in silence.

“Hey,” I said stepping out into the hallway with him before he had the chance to open the front door, “You’re leaving now?”

“I have to study,” he shrugged, “Eren said we could leave when Connie got here so I’m ya know, leaving.”

“What, you aren’t even going to say goodbye?”

“No, sorry I was,” he chewed his lip for a second and furrowed his brows in thought, “I’m just a little bit on edge because of the party anyway, the only reason I’m even bothering to go in the first place is because I want to see Annie, really.”

“So…?”

“So I’m gonna go. Finals are getting closer and closer, Jean.”

I frowned, “You can see her after though, right? I mean they are all going to be in town for a while.”

“Of course,” a small smile flickered over his lips, “But I don’t want to disappoint Eren, he put a lot of work into this.”

In all honesty, the most Eren had done was yell all day and boss everyone about but I refrained from saying so. I didn’t want to push it.

“Sure, okay,” I replied, raising an eyebrow, “You do you.”

“Mm, right,” he raised his eyebrows and laughed softly into his hand before peering back into the living room to call out to Connie and Sasha, “See you guys later!”

They responded in a similar manner before Armin turned back to me, opening the door behind him, “What? Aren’t you going to say goodbye?”

I could tell he was teasing me now and had to bite back a smile.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Okay, you do you.”

“Stop mimicking me.”

“I’m not,” he said, holding his hands up in defense before he laughed and slipped outside back into the cold, “Goodbye, Jean.”

I sighed and finally caved in, “Goodbye, Armin.”

He waved and shut the door as he left and I repressed a shiver when the wind rushed inside, leaving goosebumps along my forearms. Why the hell was it always cold all year round in this damned town?

I stared at the door for a few seconds longer than necessary, closing my eyes as the chill from outside ebbed away.

Armin always seemed to be preoccupied with something nowadays, it was kind of hard to get a hold of him - god knows how Eren succeed to get him over here in the first place. It was a big enough surprise when I’d heard that he was coming to the party with all of the exam prep he had going on.

“He’s gone already?”

“AGH-! Mikasa!” I exclaimed, clutching my hand over my heart, “Fuck, don’t sneak up on me like that!”

She laughed softly and made her way over to where I was standing, “Sorry. I just hope he’s okay, he usually gets worked up about exams but these ones are pretty important. I’m beginning to wonder if this party was a good idea.”

“It’ll be fine, no stress,” I replied and she sighed and pressed her forehead against my shoulder, “alright?”

“Alright.”

I could still hear Sasha and Connie yabbering away about something in the living room, loud music started playing shortly after and they started singing along. Mikasa was still clutching her phone in her hand after her call with Historia and it was hard to miss the look of exhaustion she had been bearing practically all day.

If I knew party planning was gonna be this much work I probably wouldn’t have shown up in the first place.

“ _TAKE MY BREATH AWAAAY-_ ”

“Connie, what the fuck is this!?” Eren shouted down from the balcony overlooking the foyer. Mikasa and I looked up and he folded his arms on top of the wooden banister. His hair was still dripping wet and he had removed his eyebrow and cheek studs, “I told you to bring house music-! And all that stuff you play all the time at the club!”

“I DID!” Connie screamed back over the sound of 1980s synthetic pop.

Mikasa stifled a laugh and pulled away from my shoulder before Eren marched down the stairs dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans and a band tee, clutching a pair of pink polka dot socks in his fist.

“Then where- Oh my god. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BALLOONS!?”

He entered the room and I heard Sasha scream.

“I told you this isn’t a kids party! There are more balloons than air in here!”

Mikasa did laugh after that, giving my arm a small nudge with her hands, “You should get going. Party starts at eight and if you don’t hurry, Eren probably won’t let you leave.”

I let out a small huff, “I’m not scared of him.”

“Sure you aren’t, tough guy,” she patted my arm again, “Now go! Get ready! I’ve gotta smuggle Connie and Sasha out of here too!”

“Yeah, yeah,” I grinned, grabbing my coat off the hanger, “Whatever.”

I gave her an awkward half hug and headed out. Ugghhh, cold. Hopefully the weather warm up later on but summer was taking it’s time kicking in this year. Surprise, surprise.

I showered when I got home and looked around for something else to change into. Man, why were all my nice clothes always super worn? Next time I’m just gonna put an outfit to the side for events and shit.

I hadn’t seen Reiner and Bertholdt since later last year and Annie since Eren’s party in December. I still didn’t really understand why Annie was never around nowadays, especially since she actually _lived_ here, like with a legit house and everything. We were more of acquaintances now so her return wasn’t exactly news to me but I couldn’t help but wonder why she travelled more often than she did stay.

I finally decided on a long sleeve shirt and a pair of dark grey skinny jeans that would rival Eren’s. There was no way in hell I was going to be designated driver tonight so I settled on crashing over there, it wasn’t as if I was going to get much sleep anyway. I got a text from Mikasa to head on over about twenty minutes later and I was relieved to finally be able to leave. I hated waiting around in my flat before going out, the immediate boredom that followed afterwards made time seem to take even longer. I braced myself for the cold that was about to hit me as soon as I stepped outside. It was just as bad as I thought it would be and I waved my car a silent goodbye as I made my way towards the nearest bus stop.

One of the reasons I had wanted a car so badly in the first place was to avoid public transportation and I paid my fare grudgingly as I stepped onto the 97 bus to St. Rose’s Avenue. Sure, right now things were nice and dandy but the destination was kind of far, meaning I’d have to walk the rest of the way to get to Eren’s house. How the fuck did Connie and Sasha manage this kind of torture everyday, let alone carrying tech equipment and shopping everywhere they go?

I plugged my earphones in and zoned out for the rest of the journey. People got on and off the bus at almost every stop so it was nearly empty by the time it got to it’s final destination. I stuck my hands into my jacket pockets and exited from the double doors at the back, mentally preparing myself to walk the short distance in the dark to get to Eren’s place.

“ _I can’t see shit~_ ” I sang under my breath in frustration. I would kill to be in my car right now, or literally just anywhere else _inside._

It was fifteen minute walk and I had to admit I felt more or less relieved when I turned the corner and saw the strobe lights on the porch. It looked like a bunch of people had arrived already but there was no sign of Reiner, Annie or Bertholdt from the looks of it. There was a collective sound of singing and screaming coming from inside the house, accompanied by the loud bass of the music. I made my way to the door and was greeted by Historia, who had pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and was clutching a bottle of some form of non-alcoholic beverage under her arm.

“Hey, Jean.”

“Hey- what, did they put you on guard duty or something?” I replied and she shrugged and stepped aside so I could come in.

“Nah, it was self assessed,” she grinned, brushing her hair over her shoulder, “there’s a guest list.”

Eren made a guest list? Fucking hell, that’s so pretentious.

“That’s so pretentious.”

Historia shrugged, “Each to their own. I was just about to go outside for a smoke anyway.”

We moved aside so we weren’t blocking the door and she gestured towards the living room a.k.a. the source of the noise, “You guys did a good job in there earlier, the balloon idea was _awesome._ ”

Fuck, yeah! Suck it, Eren!

“Thanks, it was mostly Sasha’s idea- speaking of which,” I glanced around the place, elbowing anyone who pushed past us too aggressively, “Where is everybody? Well, not everybody. Our friends, I mean.”

“Oh- ummmm…” she stood on her tiptoes and looked around a little bit too, “I think Eren is in the kitchen and I definitely saw Connie in the living room a little while ago so it’s probably best to check there. I haven’t seen anyone else though, I know Sasha’s going to be late.”

“Alright, cool,” I was about to head towards the living room but I stopped myself before running off, “You gonna be okay out there by yourself?”

“Psh, who the hell do you think I am?” Historia scoffed, “I’m all good, dude. Are you gonna be okay in that big ass crowd?”

She gestured towards the people jumping around inside the living room and I shrugged, not really sure, “Wish me luck.”

“I think you need a prayer for that one, love,” she mumbled, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket before placing one between her teeth. She stepped outside without another word and I watched her pull out a pink lighter from her coat and light up the cigarette in her mouth. She was a strange one for sure.

I pushed past some of the people still entering and finally made my way into the crowded room of people and well, balloons.

It was dark and kind of hard to see, especially with the flashing of the strobe lights as an added feature. It was probably Connie’s idea. He must have brought them along with his stuff. I found him a while later in the crowd, standing beside the speakers with glow sticks wrapped around every available part of his body to the point where he looked like a very bald, walking disco tech.

“Yo! Connie!”

“Hey, man!” he waved me over and I winced and shuffled away from the speakers. How he could hear over all that noise would forever be a mystery to me, “Where is everybody!?”

I shook my head and shouted back as loudly as I could over the music, “I just saw Historia and apparently Eren is in the kitchen but other than that, I have no freaking clue!”

“Weird!”

“Yeah, I know!”

He gestured towards the doorway to leave and I happily obliged. My ears were practically buzzing when we left the room and I had yet to get any alcohol in my system. Connie seemed to have had a little drink though because when I asked him about it he burst out into hysterics.

“Dude, stop laughing. Do you know where Eren is keeping the drinks or nah?”

“Hahahhh, what-?”

“The booze, Connie,” I said shaking his shoulders, “ _The booze._ ”

“Psh, booze,” I could see that he was trying hard not to act tipsy but it wasn’t convincing in the slightest, “Follow me.”

He led me towards the kitchen and I caught Eren hovering around in front of the fridge, obviously looking for something. He didn’t look all too sober either.

“You lost, Jaeger?” I said jokingly pushing his head inside the fridge and he elbowed me in the ribs in exchange.

“Shut your dirty horse mouth, I’m looking for apple juice.”

I rose an eyebrow and shuffled past him to grab a can of beer off of the countertop before popping the top to take a sip, “Someone’s grumpy.”

“I’m waiting for Armin,” he mumbled back, still squinting inside the fridge as if said boy would magically appear inside, “He’s late.”

“Dude, he’s probably busy,” I replied bringing the can back up to my lips. It tasted like shit but alcohol was alcohol, I wasn’t complaining.

“He said he would be here thoughhh,” he whined, sticking his head inside the fridge for real this time and Connie reached over to pull him out.

 _“Needy”_ I mouthed to Connie and he snorted.

Eren didn’t say anything else but I could tell he was still sulking, judging by how quiet he was being. We all stood in silence for a while, I wasn’t exactly sure for how long but it was enough time for me to finish my beer and for Eren to find some juice. Connie was texting, Sasha probably, with half of his upper body sprawled across the counter. People came in and out but it was nobody I knew very well so the three of us didn’t speak. Slightly depressing, I must admit. Way to kill the buzz, Eren.

I reached for another can of beer and took another long sip. Ughhh, where is everybody, this is so dead. I took a stupid public bus to get here for fucks sake.

“If I had a gun right now I would point it at my head,” I sighed and Eren shot me a dirty look, “Where the hell is Mikasa? She’s the one who told me to come over. This is laaaame.”

Eren pressed his cheek back against the now closed fridge and reached out towards the counter to grab a beer for himself, “She’s in the lounge.”

Connie looked up from his phone, “Why didn’t you tell us before?”

“You didn’t ask.”

I groaned and Eren suddenly perked up, taking a sip from his own can before sliding down the fridge to sit on the floor, “Why do you enjoy ruining my life?”

He shrugged and took another sip before swapping hands to take another from his clearly empty apple juice carton. Gross. How much has he even been drinking?

I could feel myself start to relax a little by the time I had reached for my third can and I heard Connie “tsk” in the background.

“Shut up, _mum,_ ” I snickered, “How many drinks have you had?”

“Dunno,” he replied with a lazy shrug, “Let’s go to the lounge, bruh.”

“Bruhh.”

“Fuck off already,” Eren mumbled, kicking at my leg from where he was sitting on the floor, “You plonker.”

We left Eren on the ground and head towards the lounge, laughing at pretty much anything we caught sight of on the way there. Man, when the heck were Reiner and junk gonna hurry the fuck up and get here. I didn’t want to get completely trashed before they showed up.

Connie let out a loud whoop when we finally arrived and found Mikasa laying a quarter of the way along the couch, legs hanging over the back and head dangling off of the seat, cradling a bottle of raspberry flavored Smirnoff in her arms. The TV (we’d moved it in here earlier from the living room) was playing some sort of cartoon and she was staring at the screen, completely into it.

“What’s up, loner?” I teased, walking over to sit on the carpet in front of her.

“I’m waiting for Armin,” she replied, not taking her eyes off of the TV.

I took the bottle from her arms and opened the cap to take a swig, “Fucking hell, everybody’s waiting on Armin. Have you and Eren already forgotten about the guests of honour!?”

“Your face has forgotten,” Connie snickered, plopping down on the carpet beside me.

Mikasa groaned and tried to swipe the bottle back from me but I held it out of reach and took another sip, “I’m waiting for them too. Give.”

She made grabby hands at the vodka and I shook my head. She didn’t seem that intoxicated judging by her position on the couch but I could already start to feel my own buzz kicking in.

“Only if you give me a kiss.”

She smacked my cheek and I let out an undignified squeak at the contact, making Connie burst into hysterics for probably the twentieth time that night. I passed the bottle over to him and he tried to sky the liquid from the bottle, (failing miserably, I must add). The three of us chilled there for a little while, talking and passing the bottle back and forth between us. Apparently Armin had arrived though because a little time after Mikasa’s phone buzzed, she dragged us up and pulled us towards the kitchen where we found him on the ground beside the fridge, trying to console a now crying Eren.

“I thought you weren’t going to come,” he sobbed, pinching Armin’s cheek hard and using the other to wipe the snot dripping from his nose. Ew. Eren was the worst kind of drunk.

“Well, I’m here so maybe, um…” he glanced up when the three of us walked in, looking slightly more relieved, “Eren. Eren, look! We are all here, see.”

Eren pinched his cheek harder and I saw Armin wince this time, trying to pry his friend’s hands away from his face.

Mikasa sighed and ducked down to help, “Ohh, Eren. the others aren’t even here yet. You shouldn’t have drank so much.”

She reached up to open the fridge and searched around for a bit before pulling out a bottle of water and forcing it into his hands.

Connie and I stood silently watching as the other two fussed over him. He calmed down pretty quickly and a small part of my brain was urging me to yell and tell them that he was just being a baby but I decided I wasn’t drunk enough for that yet. Yet.

“I’ll stay with him for a bit,” Mikasa said, patting Armin’s hand reassuringly, “Go have a drink or something, you just got here and you already look super stressed.”

“Super stressed?” he rose an eyebrow.

“ _Super_ stressed.”

A part of me felt like this was partially my fault due to the fact that Connie and I were the ones that left Eren here alone in the first place but the other part of me felt slightly bitter at all the attention he was getting. Perhaps he pulled this shit all of the time on purpose. I mean, he was whining for Armin before and when he finally shows up he just wants to hog all of his attention, what a fucking joke.

It was probably the drinks talking. Don’t be an asshole, Jean.

“Yo, Armin,” Connie grinned, putting his hand on his shoulder to gain his attention, “Come hang with us, it’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, come on,” I prompted, “We aren’t gonna dance or anything, it’s all bants.”

“Yeah!”

Armin shrugged but Mikasa encouraged him to get up and the three of us then headed back to retrieve the bottle of Smirnoff from the lounge and coaxed him into taking a sip.

“This drink is the best friend I’ve ever had,” he mumbled, taking another, much longer swig from the bottle before spreading his legs out on the carpet, “Guys, seriously. I needed this.”

I laughed at his enthusiasm and took the bottle of him to take a sip of my own. Indirect kiss. Indirect kiss.

“You looked like you needed it,” I replied, trying to not slur my words. Alcohol get out of my brain, please, “I don’t think anyone could survive that babbling mess in the kitchen for as long as you did without needing a drink afterwards.”

“Mmm,” he hummed in agreement, “I didn’t mean to be so late, I got preoccupied.”

“Sasha and I bet on whether or not you would show up,” Connie snickered, resting his back against the couch, “And I gotta say, I’m kind of surprised.”

“I’m surprised at myself too,” he snorted, snatching the bottle back off of me, “I’ve still got a lot to do.”

“Haha, that rhymed.”

“Oh.”

“I like your shoes,” I mumbled from where I was sitting, sluggishly nudging Armin’s sky blue converse with my knee.

“They’re the same ones I always wear,” he replied, scrunching up his nose cutely in confusion, though he still looked partly amused. I tipped myself backwards to lay my head on a couch cushion.

“I know but I like them.”

“Uh,” he let out a tiny laugh, “Okay, thanks.”

“Gosh, Jean!” Connie exclaimed drunkenly, “Stop changing the subject to boring things!”

“Shoes aren’t boring,” I slurred.

“Ugh! You’re a shoe.”

“So you’re trying to say I’m boring-?”

We got into a small debate while Armin sat back, sipping vacantly from the almost empty bottle of raspberry Smirnoff. I shoved Connie and we fake wrestled on the floor for a bit, howling with laughter about one minute in. I could still hear the music coming from the living room but it was very faint now. The TV was still playing the same cartoon from earlier and in the end the three of us ended up watching it, still sprawled out on the floor. We all booed when the credits rolled but continued to watch it anyways when a different show came on, well, I half watched it. It was kind of hard to focus on TV when I was more distracted by the fact that Connie had now decided that it would be funny to sit on my back when I tried to lay down on my stomach.

“Get off,” I grumbled into my folded arms, “You are ruining the viewer experience.”

“Horses don’t watch cartoons!”

“Well, this one does so get off.”

“Laaaame,” he complained and I rolled to the side the best I could until Connie slipped off my back and landed on the carpet beside me with a loud thump, “Armin, help me.”

“I want no part of this,” he replied, eyes still trained on the TV.

“See,” I hissed to Connie, “He doesn’t want to help you destroy all the things I love.”

Armin shrugged, “Well, if you put it that way…”

“Betrayal.”

His phone suddenly rang and I felt Connie jump up from where he was sitting beside me to listen out for it. Armin reached up on the couch behind him and grabbed the device before accepting the call.

“Hello- oh! Annie!”

He grinned and held the phone closer to his ear, “No, you’re good. It’s cool, I’ll come out to meet you.”

“Is she not here yet?” Connie whispered to me and I shrugged.

Armin hummed softly, looking thoughtful for a second before he carried on speaking, “I’m glad you called, I’ve just- ah, no it’s no problem…”

“What the heck’s she saying, dude?”

“Shut up, Connie. I’m trying to listen.”

Obviously I still couldn’t hear jack shit but that didn’t stop Connie from whispering to me every five seconds to ask what was going on.

“Mhm,” Armin stood up and made his way to the door, phone still pressed against his ear. He silently gestured for us to follow him and continued talking to Annie, “-Ummm, I’m not sure but I know that he’s been waiting a while- no, I meant Eren. I’m on my way to the front yard now.”

“They’re in the yard?” Connie hissed, elbowing me in the ribs.

“I don’t fucking know, shut up,” I snapped back, “Just listen.”

I didn’t see Eren as we passed by the kitchen so I assumed Mikasa had taken him upstairs or something. There was a taxi pulled up on the street when we got outside with a small blonde girl standing out front and Armin immediately ran over, slipping his phone into his pocket.

“Annie!”

“Armin?” she turned around and I felt the warm feeling of familiarity settling in my stomach.

Annie Leonhardt was definitely a tough nut to crack. She was also very sincere and sometimes kinda mean but she had a good sense of humour, which was weird enough in itself. Eren dubbed her as an inspiration (or in his own strange language, a ‘style guru’) which was kind of super duper ridiculous because all she seemed to wear were plain grey hoodies and tatty old blue jeans and they were like, not even the nice kind. She wore no make up but her hair was always neatly tied up into a bun at the back of her head and when she ran over to hug Armin I had to say I was partly shocked. I hadn’t realized that they were so close.

I saw Reiner climb out of the back seat and he greeted us first with a wave of his large hand. 

“Jean! Connie!”

Connie squawked loudly and ran over to give him a bone crushing hug. I trailed slowly behind to greet him too, just as Bertholdt jumped out of the car.

“Man, it’s good to see ya,” Reiner grinned, slapping me on the back hard and I winced, “It’s been way too long.”

“Way too long doesn’t cut it,” Connie said, punching him in the arm playfully, “it’s been almost two years, you big lug!”

Reiner held his hands up in surrender, “Alright, alright. I get it, it’s been much too long.”

“You’re telling me, I’ve been getting lonely without ya.”

“Not too lonely I hope. How’s Sasha doing?”

“Aghh, you know, she’s good,” Connie replied, “She’s gonna be getting here a little late. Let’s get you inside, man.”

The two of them walked off an I rolled my eyes, settling back against the car so I could get a word in.

“Well, that was fast,” Bertholdt whispered to me as he paid the driver, “Let’s hope those two don’t break anything on the way in.”

“You might be a little too late for that, buddy,” I sighed as Connie and Reiner head up the driveway together, “So how’ve you been, Bertl?”

“Pretty okay,” he answered, “These two have been driving my nut in since I called for a cab.”

“Ugh, yeah man I know that feel. I’ve had Eren riding my ass all day about this party nonsense,” I grumbled, “Which is kind of ironic because as soon as I got back here he was on the floor drunk and bawling his eyes out.”

“Uh, why?”

“He ‘missed’ Armin,” I replied, peering over to where he and Annie were still standing and Bertholdt followed my gaze, “Obviously it was just a plea for attention.”

“Well…” Bertholdt sighed as the cab finally left. Connie and Reiner were already inside Eren’s house but I wanted to hang back and wait for Armin before I followed them in, “I don’t know Armin very well but he seems nice from what I’ve heard, I didn’t even think you knew each other. Are you guys like-”

He made a strange gesture with his hand between us and I suddenly caught on to what he was getting at, “No- no. God no. Friends.”

“Oh sorry, right,” he nodded, shivering a little in his cardigan, “I was just detecting a vibe.”

“A vibe?”

He shrugged, “A vibe. Clearly wrong though from the sounds of it. You wanna head inside?”

“Yeah, I just um,” I nodded towards Armin who was now hugging Annie again, “I’m kind of waiting.”

I felt a little awkward just standing there and he seemed to have picked up on it. I had sobered up a little from being outside in the cold so the feeling wasn’t exactly a comfortable one.

“Oh, um,” Bertholdt scratched the back of his neck. Man, he was like a giraffe, “Annie!”

She lifted her head from Armin’s shoulder, “Yeah.”

“It’s cold, I wanna go inside.”

I saw her huff a little in annoyance but she finally let go of Armin and turned to face us, “Okay.”

We met up with everybody else in the lounge and Eren had seemed to finally have calmed down enough to have a proper conversation. Mikasa was with him and they were both sitting in front of the TV with Historia (who was still cradling the bottle from before) and a few bottles of quality alcohol and water. Eren screamed when Annie entered the room and knocked his packet of gummy worms on the floor, much to Mikasa’s dismay. Connie and Reiner were most likely still exploring the place so we settled with a few more greetings and ended up playing would you rather, which was a lot funnier than first anticipated.

“-Okay so Historia,” Eren slurred, gripping onto the bottle of water in front of him like a vice, “Would you rather… live in a cage full of monkeys for ten years or only be able listen to one song for the rest of your life, oh! And the song has gotta be gangnam style.”

“What kind of question is that!?” Historia replied, taking a sip of her lemonade, “Umm… I dunno, where is the cage located exactly?”

“In the jungle.”

“What jungle?”

“Amazon.”

She frowned at him and tapped her manicured nails along the bottle she was holding, “I choose the monkeys.”

Mikasa laughed, “Seriously?”

“God, yeah,” Historia said, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow, “There is no way in hell I’m reliving 2012 for the rest of my life, fuck that.”

“Your turn then,” I added, biting into a gummy worm.

“Fine,” she sighed, “Bertholdt?”

He nodded and she hummed softly to herself, trying to come up with a question.

“Would you rather chew an old man’s toenails off both feet or…” she looked over at me, “eat a bucket of worms?”

I spat the sweet out into my hand.

“Uhhh,” Bertholdt shrugged, gingerly taking a sip of his beer, “How big is the bucket?”

“Hmm,” she made a guesstimate with her hands.

“Worms.”

She looked surprised, “Really!?”

“I’m not touching old man feet,” he replied like it was obvious.

I cracked up laughing and Eren joined in, slinging an arm around Armin’s shoulders sloppily which made him start laughing too.

Mikasa shook her head in amusement and I got up and head over to the bin to throw away the saliva covered gummy worm just as Connie turned the corner into the room and nearly slammed into me in the process.

“Reiner!” Eren yelled from where he was still clinging onto Armin on the carpet, “How positively excellent it is for you to join us.”

He bowed dramatically and Reiner chuckled whole heartedly, “Looks like someone has had a bit too much to drink.”

“Geez, I can’t see why you’re talking,” Berthold said, lifting his head to look up at Reiner from where he was sitting, “You’re as red as a tomato.”

“Ah, right, you got me,” he grinned, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, “Alcohol flush.”

“Don’t worry,” Eren snickered, childishly sticking the water bottle he was clinging onto between the junction of his shoulder and his neck, “Jean gets it too.”

“F-fuck off, no I don’t!” I spat, leaning back against the wall, “At least when I drink I don’t start behaving like a bratty little kid!”

“Boo, you’re no fun,” he replied, still unoffended for whatever reason, “Cranky.”

“You are kind of cranky when you’re drunk,” Connie added before looking back down at his phone and I slapped the back of his head.

“Ow!”

Eren stuck his tongue out at me and I covered my face with my hands and groaned into them. Mikasa, Annie, and Armin had struck up their own conversation now but Historia stood up and walked over to where we were standing, sticking a hand out to Reiner.

“Hi, you must be Reiner. I’m Historia Reiss.”

Reiner looked stunned and took a step backwards, “The model!?”

She shrugged, “That I am.”

He shook her hand, completely awestruck. I saw Connie roll his eyes though his gaze was still mostly directed at his phone. He’d been staring at that thing nearly the whole time he’d been here.

“Y-you’re very beautiful in person. N-not that I didn‘t think you would be-! Just woah.”

Bertholdt was the one to roll his eyes this time.

Historia laughed a little more awkwardly now and gestured towards the others on the floor. Jesus Christ.

“You can let go of her hand now,” I mumbled and Reiner bounced back. Bertholdt sighed loudly.

“Sorry, sorry!”

“Um, it’s fine…” Historia rejoined the circle and sat down beside Eren who was about to burst out into hysterics again from the looks of it.

We all sat back down again with the exception of Connie who was hovering by the door frame, still staring at his phone. We all chatted about Reiner and Bertholdt’s lives away from Trost and I had to say, it sounded like they had settled in well. They told us about their house by the coast and about their wackjob neighbour who could apparently ‘predict the future.’ Armin insisted that it was impossible but Reiner wasn’t having it, even with Annie’s defense on the matter. Thirty seconds into what was quickly becoming an argument Connie let out a loud shriek that startled us all.

“Sasha’s here!”

I shot him a dirty look, “Huh?”

“I SAID, SASHA’S HERE!”

“Then tell her to come in.”

“I am!”

“Oh my god, you guys,” Mikasa said suddenly, nudging Eren’s head off of her shoulder, “We should turn off all the lights and wait for her to come in. Then when she does we flick them on and spray her with silly string.”

“That is genius, holy shit,” Historia replied, giving her a high five, “Where are the cans?”

“In the guestroom upstairs. Eren go get them.”

“Why meeee,” he whined, burying his face back into her shoulder.

“It’s your party.”

“Yeah man, not to mention you’ve been a pretty awful host,” I added and Eren shot me a glare, “Seriously, you haven’t even been checking on the other guests!”

“Yeah,” Mikasa agreed, “What if someone steals something!”

“They won’t, I have a guest list.”

Historia’s lips thinned at the sheer ridiculousness of his statement but she didn‘t dwell on the topic, “Connie where is Sasha now?”

“Outside, I think?” he replied, scratching the back of his head, “I’ll go out and get her, then I can scope out the scene for you guys. Just hurry and get the silly string.”

Armin and Mikasa pushed Eren up and he immediately bolted, hopefully to the guestroom, without a word. Connie followed him out and we quickly got the room ready. We turned off the TV and split into two groups to hide behind the wall connected to the entrance. We waited in the dark for a couple of minutes giggling when Eren (wow) eventually came back and the anticipation was suffocating me. Footsteps sounded through the hall closer and closer to the lounge and I held my breath, bracing myself for what was about to happen. I could hear Connie speaking, yep that was most definitely him. There was a loud whoop from outside the door and suddenly it burst open. 

3

“Connie! Hey, why the hell is it so dark in here?”

2

“Um.”

1

“Connie?”

We flicked on the lights and Sasha screeched from the top of her lungs as the eight of us covered her with silly string. Her screaming soon turned to laughter though, and she fell to the ground with her hands over her face before trying to make a grab for Mikasa’s can.

“I can not believe you guys, oh my fucking god!”

“MAN DOWN,” Reiner yelled and Sasha scrambled off of the floor to hug him and the others.

Connie stepped in from behind her, absolutely howling with laughter and I sprayed him with my can.

“You bloody menace, Connie Springer!” Sasha declared, tackling him onto the carpet.

“It was Mikasa’s idea!” Armin said and Sasha jumped up again and took Bertholdt’s can off of him to spray Mikasa with it all over.

It soon turned into an all out war and we were all chasing each other around the lounge, covered in excessive amounts of silly string.

“Fuck you guys, I swear to god,” Sasha squealed as Connie and I cornered her behind the couch. She tried to spray us and rolled over the back, landing on her knees on the carpet, “YOU ARE TOTALLY OUT TO GET ME!”

The silly string battle was soon moved out into the front yard and Eren quickly returned indoors to finally attend to his guests with Annie, Bertholdt, and Mikasa in tow. The rest of us ran around out in the dark with no jackets on, and froze our asses off in process. We ended up splitting a twelve pack of beer and I sat on the porch with Armin and Reiner while Sasha, Connie and Historia ran around barefoot and screaming, with multiple cans of silly string in their hands. 

“-That’s sooo stupid,” Armin giggled into his hand childishly “Alpacas totally have hooves.”

“Well,” I slurred, leaning against his side for leverage and waggling my finger around in the air, “You have never seen an alpaca in real life so how’d ya even know?”

“Because I do, it‘s common knowledge.”

“Obviously you don’t because alpacas are not reaaaal.”

“Oh my god, stop lyinggg,” he whined, shoving my shoulder, “Reiner, tell him.”

“Alpacas are real, Jean.”

“No they aren’t, oh my god, Reiner!”

Man, it’s been a while since I’ve been this drunk. It was really cold but I think all the excitement from earlier made it harder for me to get up and just go inside. Somehow the topic had veered towards animals and the conversation felt like it was going on forever. Alpacas totally aren’t real. These guys are total phonies.

Armin dug his nails into my cheek and I screamed.

“Alpacas are real, Jean!”

“No they aren’t!”

“Yes, they are!”

I wrapped my arms around him and he screamed into my chest. I felt a bit woozy and the world kind of spun when I moved my head too quickly but soon Armin had stopped yelling, which was kind of nice. I placed my chin on top of his head and closed my eyes.

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He softly punched my side, “You upset the alpacas.”

“You’re cute.”

“You’re mean.”

Reiner snickered and leant back on his elbows to yell back at the house, “EREN, THERE ARE DRUNK HOMOSEXUALS ON YOUR PORCH!”

I snapped my head to the side to glare at him but everything went blurry again when I spoke, “What the fuck, Reiner, you…” super blurry, “You are like the gayest person I know! Like you are literally a homosexual.”

“Yes, indeedy,” he replied calmly, “And you look like you need some water, dear trashed friend o’ mine.”

“Mmm, nah,” I waved my hand at him dismissively, “I’m good.”

Armin was being strangely quiet now but when I poked him in the cheek he poked my nose back clumsily in response. Reiner did not look very convinced and stood up anyway.

“I’ll get Mikasa so stay put,” he sighed and I waved my hand again, “Don’t move a muscle, Kirschstein.”

“Well, you stop being nice!” I yelled back as he walked inside, leaving Armin I on the porch. _Abandoning_ us in our time of need. Jerk.

“You smell like apricots,” Armin mumbled and I frowned.

“What are apricots?”

“Like a fruit?” he sounded unsure himself, “I dunno.”

Sasha fell down on the grass and Connie and Historia sat down to join her, still spraying each other with silly string.

“I’m cold,” Armin continued, burying his face back into my chest, “do something.”

“I am doing something,” I sighed and he shook his head, “We could get you a blanket, maybe? If hugs aren’t enough.”

“This isn’t a hug, this is you trapping me.”

“Trapping you?”

“Yes, because of the alpacas.”

I snorted and burst out laughing at his response but when he looked up at me his eyes were teary and his nose was red.

“Alpacas are not a joke, Jean. They are beautiful creatures and you were mean to them.”

“I’m sorry, I know,” I replied sympathetically, wiping away the wet stains on his face with my fingers, “Geez, you are just as bad as Eren when you’re really drunk. I didn’t mean to insult your favourite animal.”

His expression changed to something akin to confusion and he frowned up at me, “They aren’t my favourite animal, I don’t even like them.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Then why are you sad?”

“Because you didn’t give them a chance to prove themselves!”

“Well, yep. That makes sense,” I mumbled, even though it made absolutely no sense at all according to my logic. At least he stopped crying, “So whaddya wanna do about it?”

“Apologise.”

“I did.”

“To the alpacas of the world, Jean.”

Was he being serious right now? He looked it. I took a deep breath and screamed into the distance, “I’M SORRY ALPACAS!”

Historia glanced over her shoulder from where she was sitting on the grass and shot me a weird look. What? I can’t apologise to an alpaca now? Is it suddenly wrong and totally bizarro to apologise to a fucking alpaca!? Geez.

“Ughhhh, where is Reiner,” I whined, squishing Armin’s cheeks, “He’s taking too long.”

“Mmm, I dunno,” he replied, leaning into my touch, “I hope he brings food.”

“Same.”

The others were lying down on the grass now, talking and pointing towards stars in the distance, silly string cans left abandoned on the ground beside them. They were probably freezing but they didn’t show any signs of being cold. The air made my brain feel sort of fuzzy and I continued to stare out at the three of them in the distance until my vision refocused.

“Do you wanna kiss?”

I looked down at Armin who was staring up at me with eyes as wide as saucers. I pinched his cheek.

“Nah,” I replied, tucking his hair behind both ears, “I’m sorta married.”

“Okay,” he replied with a shrug, leaning back against my chest.

We sat together in silence for a while longer until Mikasa emerged from the doorway carrying four bottles of water and a couple of blankets. She sat down beside us and handed them to us and called Sasha and Connie over to grab their own.

“My wife,” I nodded towards Mikasa and Armin hummed in understanding.

“It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Kirschstein,” he said, holding his hand out to Mikasa and she raised an eyebrow in confusion but shook it all the same. Armin sat up properly and leaned over to whisper in her ear, “ _Don’t worry Mikasa, I know it’s you._ ”

She laughed good naturedly and coaxed him into taking a sip of water, “You are super drunk, oh my god. Jean and I aren’t married, sweetheart.”

Connie, Sasha and Historia came over a few minutes later to whine about how they were hungry and we ordered pizza out in the yard. Obviously Historia, being the only sober one present, was the one who did all the talking.

Connie and Sasha played catch with one of the empty silly string cans while we waited and the rest of us just talked. I tried to avoid bringing Alpacas up again but soon enough the topic somehow returned to the conversation and Historia seemed very, very confused about how and why. When the pizza guy finally came by, she, Mikasa, and Armin returned indoors and Sasha and Connie joined me on the porch, wrapped up in blankets with half empty bottles of water in their hands. Mikasa had left behind a box of pizza for us and we sat there, eating and chatting idly. Some guests had already started leaving and the music had been turned down significantly so it was a lot quieter than it was earlier and soon Reiner and Bertholdt came outside to join us.

“So,” Reiner sighed, “How have things been here? While we were away.”

“Lively,” Connie said, “Good though.”

“Yeah,” Sasha agreed, brushing her fingers through her ponytail, “So much has happened, this year especially. I mean, we met Historia and stuff, Connie and I got together,” she grinned at this, “and I got into a super cool play.”

Bertholdt raised an eyebrow, “What play?”

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was kind of last minute but they said they were in urgent need of an understudy and-”

I stopped mid sip of my water, “You’re an understudy!?”

She looked embarrassed and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, “Yes, I know, I know, it’s not the lead but this play has always been one of my favourites so I ditched The Wizard Of Oz and went with my instincts. That’s why I didn’t really say anything. The auditions were in the same building so I just kind of…went for it.”

“Good call then,” Reiner said, looking up at the sky, “Understudies are just as important as the main cast.”

Sasha seemed unsure, “You really think so?”

Reiner nodded, “Hell yeah. Not everyone can get a part in a big shot play like that. You’ve got skills, man.”

She closed her eyes and hummed happily in response. That explained all her passionate rambling earlier on.

“This party was pretty chilled out,” Connie sighed and I nodded, “I can say for certain now that hanging out with friends is way more fun than dancing with a bunch of strangers.”

“It sure is,” Reiner said, slapping a hand down on his shoulder in mirth, “The balloons were pretty cool though.”

Sasha and I fist bumped.

“I know this is pretty off topic but speaking of friends, it’s kind of weird,” he continued, “we’ve had all night. I thought you would’ve at least said something about Marco.”

I felt my chest tighten slightly and I saw Connie clench his jaw. The assumption had quickly sobered us up and I was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

“How is that weird?” Sasha asked, furrowing her eyebrows, “What’s weird is you asking that.”

She looked more angry than upset but the tone of her voice suggested otherwise.

“Woah, woah,” Reiner raised his hands up in defense, “You guys haven’t spoken to him?”

“No.”

Bertholdt looked worried and started fidgeting with the button on his cardigan, “I’m kind of confused. He mentioned you.”

“Well,” Sasha threw her arms up in frustration, “Tell him he can unmentioned us! Right, Jean!?”

I stared up at the stars, “Right.”

“We tried to get in contact with him last year,” she continued, “Almost all last year, even in December!”

Sasha sounded like she had a lot more to say but Connie stopped her. Reiner and Bertholdt were friends with Marco? Marco Bodt? The same Marco I hadn’t spoken to in at least two years.

“I can see that this is probably a sensitive topic,” Reiner sighed, “I thought he would have tried to contact you.”

He has.

“Well, I haven’t gotten any calls from him,” Connie said.

Sasha nodded, “Me neither.”

I have.

“Jean, say something.”

They were all looking at me now.

“Why would he try to contact us?” I asked, “What is so important that he would want to do that? Why after-”

I cut myself off and folded my arms against my chest. Why after all this time?

“Jean,” Reiner put a hand on my shoulder and I flinched and looked up at him. He was still slightly red in the face but his expression looked empathetic and it made me feel even worse. Bertholdt had turned away from the three of us, obviously trying to zone out of the tenseness of the situation. There were a few more seconds of silence apart from the faint sound of music in the background and it dulled everything down marginally.

“Jean,” Reiner tried again and I looked him in the eye, trying to read his expression, “Marco is moving back to Trost.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *ascends into the abyss*


	9. Friends Through and Through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sad times can be solved with a little bit of mini golf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!BAM!!! SURPRISE CHAPTER.
> 
> Okay so I am posting this super early out of the blue because I wanted to get it out of the way so I can move onto to the more fun chapters faster! Excuse my poor quality descriptions since I didn't have a chance to edit (especially in the beginning) also because this fic is still like 70% humour with a bit of drama sprinkled on top.
> 
> I also wanted to mention that I have written a oneshot for the first chapter in Armin's POV and you can find it [right here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4878697) so go check it out!!
> 
> (Also there is blood mention in the beginning so just a heads up.)

_“Jean!”_

“Jean! Wait! Where are you going!?”

“Home,” I spat, pulling on my jacket as I made my way down Eren’s driveway.

I felt Connie reach out to pull me back but I knocked his hand away and didn’t look back at the house. 

I was drunk and fuming, which wasn’t exactly the greatest mixture, and all I knew was that I was starting to feel bad like, all over. Everything was already starting to cloud my brain because of the alcohol as I crossed the street and turned in the direction that I thought the bus stop was in. I wasn’t entirely sure where I was headed but for now I just wanted to get out of here and find somewhere I could be alone. 

I walked until I couldn’t see the lights from Eren’s house anymore, tripping and stumbling over the cracks on the pavement. It was probably way past midnight now, it had to be. I tried to keep my balance but the effort was futile and any attempt I made to clear my head was done in vain. Fuck it, why did I always have to be the guy that made stupid ass decisions all the time.

_“Jean, stop!”_

I could hear someone running behind me but I felt way too tired to turn around so I just continued walking instead, albeit a little bit faster in order to get away.

“Jean!” Sasha grabbed my wrist and I tried to wrestle out of her grip, eventually settling on dragging her along with me when I realized she wasn’t going to let go any time soon. When she finally concluded that I wasn’t going to stop running off she released my arm but continued to follow me anyway, heels clicking along the path behind me like somehow that would stop me from getting away - not that I even knew where the hell I was heading in the first place.

“Jean, you’ve gotta stop!” She cried a little more desperately this time as she attempted to block the path in front of me, “Come on, slow down a little! We need to talk about this! Jean!”

She grabbed the back of my jacket and toppled down onto the pavement when I tried to dodge again but her strong grip on my hood incidentally pulled me right along to the ground with her. I felt the skin on my hands split and scrape away when they hit the concrete and I muffled a shout into my sleeve. That hurt, that really, really hurt. My body stung and my head was ringing when I made a ploy to get up so I lay nearly face down on the path in the darkness for a couple of seconds longer, trying to regain my breath. I could hear sniffling noises from somewhere next to me and I knew she was crying. I automatically felt awful, even worse than I originally had, as I tried to fob off the dizziness that was clouding my vision and forced myself to roll over on my back and sit up on my elbows before I felt the need to throw up.

Sasha was sitting on her knees beside me, shivering like crazy. It was hard to tell at first because of the dark but I found it incredibly hard to miss tears rolling freely down her cheeks and the long scratches that were now covering her knees after hitting the pavement head on. There was a trail of blood dripping down both of her arms and she clutched her elbows to mask the pain.

“YOU HAVE GOT TO STOP! RIGHT NOW,” she screamed, teeth clamping down on her lower lip when she finally made eye contact with me, “I MEAN IT, JEAN!”

I didn’t know what to say so I slowly responded by reaching into my jacket pocket to pull out a packet of tissues I‘d slipped in there a while back because of Armin’s hay fever. She froze up when I reached forward to carefully wipe the blood away from her arms, obviously not expecting that as my initial reaction. Heck, I didn’t really expect it either, all I knew was that this whole thing was entirely my fault.

“There’s going to be a bruise,” I said and she let out a loud sob, “I’m sorry. I am so fucking sorry, Sash.”

She shook her head and brushed her bangs away from her face, staring at the ground to hold back the waterworks that I knew were sure to continue, “Stop it, it was my fault, I was the one who fell over and n-now you’re hurt too. I should be the one who’s sorry.”

“No,” I frowned.

“Yes.”

“Nah, you’re good.”

She looked up at me with glossy eyes and sighed loudly, “How can you even say that so casually at a time like this?”

I shrugged grudgingly, “What you didn’t hear? I’m the meanest guy around.”

“No you’re not, you douche,” she sniffled punching my shoulder weakly, “You’re my best friend and you’re one of the most kindest, caring people I have ever met so never ever settle for less.”

I let go of her right arm and waited for the oncoming joke but it never came. Instead she just let out another sigh and pulled me into a bone crushing hug, “We love you, you dork. All of us. We don’t need Marco to justify that, you don’t need him to justify your self worth. Losing us was _his_ loss. You don‘t have to be the guy who won’t let anybody in, Jean. That’s just not you.”

I bit back the tears I could feel threatening to leak out and stared down at my mucked up hands. Sasha was often emotional but I knew what she’d said just now was sincere and it was strange to hear those kind of words leave her mouth. I gave in and let out a loud sob into her shoulder and she rubbed my back soothingly, if anyone else had seen me like this I would’ve been embarrassed beyond belief. For some reason the air felt freezing now and when I looked out the street was dark and empty with no signs of life anywhere. I had no clue where the fuck we even were, this was humiliating. Why the hell had I just run off like that? 

What was I going to tell Mikasa or Eren, or Historia, or Armin? What was I supposed to even say now, to Sasha?

“He called me,” I weeped into her shirt, “Once. He called me and I- I let it ride out, I didn’t know what to do.”

“What?” she pulled back with an unreadable expression, “When?”

“Um, fuck- um,” I tried to clear my head, “January? February? I dunno, um. It was the day after we all went bowling together for the first time. When I went to the mall with Eren, Armin, and Historia- that day.”

“And you didn’t answer?”

I shook my head, suddenly feeling incredibly stupid, “Do you think I should have?”

She shrugged, “Knowing you, no.”

“Why’d you say that?”

“Because you’re brash and don’t think things through before you say them.”

I laughed bitterly, “Well, you’re not wrong.”

She crossed her legs and grabbed one of my hands before reaching over to pick the abandoned packet of tissues off the ground and pulled one out. She dabbed at the blood on my hands in silence and I stared vacantly over her shoulder at the rest of the sidewalk, eyes following the path until it descended into the background and merged in with the rest of the darkness. 

“I fucked up,” I sighed and Sasha paused.

“Yeah, you did.”

“It was stupid of me to just run off,” I frowned and she patted my hand gently and offered me a smile.

“I ran off too,” she replied, dabbing at my hands again with the tissue even though I could start to see some of the blood dripping onto her skirt from where she’d cut her elbow, “We’re in this mess together now.”

“I suppose so,” I mumbled, doing my best to return the sentiment, “Now Eren will have to hunt both of us down.”

She laughed and let go of my hand to wipe at her eyes again, “What a way to kill the buzz.”

“You’re telling me.”

She grabbed a couple more tissues to clean up her arms and finally stood, leaning over to help me stand up. We made our way back together, both of us mentally preparing for the lecture we were going to get from Mikasa when we returned. I still felt ridiculously dizzy and the added emotional exhaustion definitely did nothing to help.

But when we finally made it back to Eren’s place there was no sign of Mikasa outside, which was weird because she was usually the one to sit around and stake someone out. Maybe no one told her about what happened, I hoped so at least. Because instead we were met with the unusual sight of Connie, who was sitting out on the porch with his phone in his hand, flashlight on, and a unreadable expression on his face.

He stood up when we made our way over to him and he looked _mad_. Like not even mad, _furious_.

“Where the hell have you two been!?” he asked when were finally within earshot, “Jean, what you did was stupid and reckless! And Sasha, chasing after him was just as fucking crazy! You have alcohol in your system! You could have gotten hurt!”

Sasha let go of my arm and marched right over to him to step right up in his face. She was rarely ever angry but she was bloody well good with confrontation, I could give her that.

“What the ever loving fuck are you on about!?” she yelled back, glowering down at him, “You could have given us a call, given someone else a call, maybe!? You could have come looking for us, with everyone! And don’t you dare tell me what I did was crazy, Connie Springer! What the hell was I supposed to do? Go on, give me a reasonable solution off the top of your head.”

He was silent and she continued, “I was making sure Jean was fucking safe, which he clearly freaking wasn’t judging by the way he ran off! And what were you doing, huh? Sitting outside waiting for us to come back just so you could blow up your own stupid ego. Don’t be such a fucking, coward!”

She was absolutely livid at this point and I balled my hands into fists to null the stinging sensation from my cuts but it didn’t really do any good. I had never seen them argue like this before and it was a terrifying sight to behold.

“This isn’t about me or my ego, Sasha!” Connie shouted, “I was worried about you guys!”

“Then why didn’t you do anything!?” I could hear the hurt crawling back into Sasha’s voice and I was certain that she must have been forcing back tears.

“Because I didn’t know what to do, alright!?” his voice wavered and I saw him glance down at Sasha’s arms, expression suddenly changing to one of horror, “What the hell happened?”

He glanced over at me and I held up both of my wounded hands and waved jokingly back.

“Oh my god,” he inspected the cuts on Sasha’s arms, “Sash, tell me what happened out there!”

“I slipped.”

“You slipped?”

“That’s right,” she folded her arms across her chest and rose an eyebrow, daring him to challenge her about it, “ _We_ slipped.”

Instead of saying anything, Connie pulled her into a tight hug and tried to smear off the blood on her elbows with his shirt. There were still some people hanging around the living room kicking around the dying helium balloons when we went inside but Connie brought us straight to the kitchen where Reiner and Mikasa were already hovering nonchalantly beside the counter. She seemed surprised when we walked in but Reiner didn’t say anything, obviously aware of the situation.

“Oh my god,” Mikasa ran over to the both of us, grabbing my wrists to check out the cuts on my hands, “Are you guys okay? What happened!?”

“We decided to go for a walk,” Sasha lied, “but we were too drunk and we tripped.”

She seemed easily convinced and ran over towards the kitchen counter and began rummaging in one of the drawers beside the sink. Reiner just stayed where he was and avoided making eye contact.

Mikasa cleaned our wounds and patched us up quickly while Connie stood by the doorway, still looking worried.

“Where are the others?” I asked as she wrapped a long strip of bandages carefully around my fingers. The party had died down significantly and I wondered if anybody had heard Sasha and Connie screaming at each other from outside, it seemed pretty likely.

“In the lounge,” she sighed, furrowing her brows as she picked a small pair of scissors off of the countertop to snip away the excess cotton, “Armin went home.”

“Oh, how come?”

She glanced up at me and let go of my hand to rip off a piece of medical tape, “It’s late, like two in the morning.”

“Okay…”

“But ya know what? I don’t care about how drunk you are, it was incredibly idiotic of you to go for a walk at this time in the dark,” she grit her teeth together, finally finishing up my bandages. She patted my hand gently but her words were stern, “If you hadn’t of found your way back here you could have gotten seriously hurt. Both of you.”

She cast a glance in Sasha’s direction and she whimpered out a small “sorry” in response. Connie put his arm around her shoulder to give her a half hug.

Man, I could sure use another hug right about now too.

Mikasa definitely didn’t look like she wanted any part of that though, judging by the way she angrily slammed the tape back down on the countertop when she was done with it. Reiner still hadn’t said anything but the expression he was wearing almost made him look as guilty as we did.

“It was my fault, I wandered off alone,” I said, trying to draw her attention back to myself, “Sasha only followed me to bring me back here, she did nothing wrong so don’t blame her, alright?”

Mikasa scowled, “Oh, don’t you worry, I’ll just take a quick note of that. Let’s see so, you’re telling me it was your great idea to walk off intentionally now? What, but then you decided to drag poor Sasha along with you? Oh man, you sure are a responsible adult.”

I felt an angry tug in my chest at her tone of voice, “What, so you wanna get all sarcastic now?”

“If that’s the only way I can communicate with you then yes, yes I am going to get all sarcastic now, Jean.”

“Oh, wow well that’s new.”

“What, and you being a jerk is?” she rolled her eyes, “Come off it.”

“Pfft, yeah and you aren’t?”

“No. No I am not,” she hissed back, “So maybe let’s leave this at a standstill, okay? Unless you’re trying to prove my point.”

“Yeah but what fucking point is that?” I scoffed, “You’re just being patronizing.”

“And you’re just being a dick.”

“So this is about me and you now, is that it!?”

“Maybe it is.”

“Well, if you’ve got a problem,” I gestured around the room, “We’d all love to hear it!”

She turned around to hide her face but I could still see her fingernails digging into her arm every few seconds in frustration. Even though she hadn‘t raised her voice once, her tone made it extremely clear that she was pissed off enough with my actions as it is. Sasha and Connie were both silent now too, probably waiting to hear what she was going to say next.

“I don’t think I can even remember the last time you two did something this reckless,” Mikasa continued, looking away from the sink to glance between Sasha and I, “Back in school, maybe?” her voice cracked, “Way back when the only reason why I knew you was because you were the one pulling all the pranks in the local area and picking fights with everybody that came into approximate distance of you.”

The last part was directed towards me specifically but I decided that now was not the time to call her out on it, I’d probably said enough. She gathered up the stuff from the first aid kit and cast another sharp look in my direction, “I thought you were better than that now but clearly I was wrong.”

She tucked the medical equipment away and stood up straight to leave, only stopping on the way to shove the first aid bag to my chest, “Obviously, _nothing_ has changed.”

Her eyes were teary when stormed out of the room and the quiet she’d left behind felt like a huge punch to the gut.

Connie let out a low whistle at the silence and I shot him a dirty look in response. Mikasa was only mad because she was worried about what could have happened but it still made my own anger flare up and I suddenly felt like screaming the place down.

Instead, I placed the first aid kit back on the counter as calmly as I could manage and head over to the fridge to pour myself some leftover apple juice from the carton Eren was drinking from earlier in the night. I grabbed a clean glass and ignored the concerned glances the others were giving me across the room. The music playing across the hall quieted and left the four of us in tense silence. Reiner came over to put a hand on my shoulder but strangely enough I didn’t shrug it off, opting to continue zoning out.

“You didn’t tell her why.”

“Did I have to?” I replied, taking a swig.

“It would’ve lessened the blow.”

“Would it?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I guess it’s a bit too late for that now,” I shrugged and put my glass down, “If you have a problem you can tell it to the apple juice.”

\----------------------------

The next day I left as soon as I woke up, which was about six something in the morning.

I avoided any sign of Mikasa on the way out and walked back to the bus stop alone. All I knew was that as soon as I got home, I was going to sleep my butt off for the rest of the day.

I felt absolutely awful and this was only further heightened by work about a week later. I was restocking the shelves with Marlo and he was talking to me about more irrelevant bullshit (which was probably what made the experience feel even worse). I hadn’t seen Sasha since the party but we’d been texting back and forth since the day after so that was something at least.

I hadn’t made any contact with Mikasa whatsoever and it was starting to really get to me. At the end of the day I still wanted to talk to her and see if she was okay just to see if she was still mad at me. But that much was obvious, if she wasn’t still super pissed off then we would probably be hanging out around now.

“Has anyone ever told you that you are the worst employee we have ever had like, ever because it is seriously to starting bug me.”

“No, Marlo,” I grumbled, shoving a couple of cereal boxes onto the shelves above my head, “I’m not in the mood to talk so can you do the world a favour and shut up.”

“-And what the hell happened to your hands, they look fucked. You audition for a remake of The Mummy or something?”

“They’re bandages just, ugh,” I sighed exasperatedly, “You’re giving me a hugeass headache so can you _please_ just shut up, Marlo.”

“No, I won’t shut up,” he replied in that dreadfully annoying tone of voice that incessantly reminded me of Eren Jaeger, “You’ve got to do a better job or I’m going to start telling the manager about your drinking problem.”

“I do not have a fucking drinking problem,” I snarled, picking up another box from the cart, “You have a bloody problem with the way you’re always trying to nosey your way into everybody’s personal business!”

“Pfft, and what is _your_ personal business, dicklord? Did you break your compact mirror or something? L.O.L. Lame.”

He started laughing and I closed my eyes and counted to ten in my head. This is work, you’ve gotta control yourself, Jean. Oh dear god, he’s so annoying I want to strangle him.

“Marlo, if you say L.O.L out loud one more time I will attack you with my bare hands and this full box of Rice Krispies,” I held the cereal above my head for emphasis and he quieted down.

“Well, I’m telling the manager.”

“Yeah, you go do that,” I sighed, “I’ll just be here with this ugly, plastic nametag and all the pride I have still intact. So, see ya.” 

He sneered and walked off down the aisle, leaving me behind to put away the rest of the stock. No amount of money was worth doing this and putting up with _that_ at the same time. This job could drive someone mad.

I finished up putting away the rest of the cereal myself when Marlo didn’t return and headed off to put the cart away. Breaks were always lame without Sasha at work so I ended up messing around on apps and flicking through some of my phone contacts, debating whether or not I should just call someone. Wow, only seven days had passed and I was already being needy as shit. Help me universe, I need attention from somebody other than my coworkers. I sent Connie a quick text to see how he was doing and went straight back to restocking supplies when my time was up.

God, is this going to be my life now? I sure hoped not.

This job was getting more and more tedious the longer my hours stretched and I felt a soft tap on my shoulder a few minutes after I got back to my shift so I was careful enough to ready my work smile. Sure, I could be a dick to Marlo but I still had to keep up with store policy when it came to customers if I didn’t want to get the sack. Just think friendly thoughts, Jean. You have all the time in the world to be miserable later.

“Hello, how can I help-” I stopped in my tracks and slowly put the box I was holding back on the cart, “-you…”

Mikasa stood in front of me clutching a shopping basket with an unreadable expression on her face. She wore a purple trench coat and her usual half a dozen rings on her fingers but the trackpants and t-shirt underneath told me she had just decided to stop by on her way home from the gym. She shrugged aimlessly and gripped the handle of her basket tighter when I finally caught her eye, “You got some time to chat?”

“No actually- uh,” I scratched the back of my neck nervously, “I just got off break so you’re… shopping?”

That sounded a lot stupider when it came out of my mouth. Of course she was here to fucking shop.

“Oh, well um. Truthfully, I kinda remembered your hours but yeah, shopping,” she held up her basket matter-of-factly, looking slightly embarrassed, “I won’t take up much of your time because of work but I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for what happened at the party. I jumped to conclusions and that’s that so I should probably just-”

“-No!” I held out my hands to stop her from leaving and she raised an eyebrow, “No, I mean… What you said was totally justified, you were worried and I wasn’t taking my actions seriously. I acted like a total douche.”

She frowned, “Mm, I still felt sorta bad about the whole not talking thing but… Reiner and Bertholdt told me about your friend - the one who disappeared. It sounded like he was a total jerk to you.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, “He kinda was.”

“Trost isn’t a big town, you’ll probably end up seeing him eventually.”

“Pfft, if he even remembers what I look like,” I chuckled, “The last time I saw him I wore braces and had a completely different haircut.”

She laughed softly along with me, “Maybe, it’s just… Well, they kind of told me about the other thing too. You probably already know this but he-”

“HEY!”

Marlo pointed a finger in my direction from the end of the aisle and I sighed as loudly as I could to get him to hear how incredibly done I was, “I am helping a customer.”

“Liar!” he exclaimed, “I’ve seen you and Sasha Braus with her before, she’s another one of your annoying friends! I knew I should’ve gotten the manager-!”

“Perhaps you should have,” Mikasa deadpanned, tucking one side of her hair behind her ear before shooting a pointed look in his direction, “Because I would like to file a complaint about employees being rude to paying customers.”

Marlo looked absolutely scandalized.

My eyebrows shot up in disbelief at what she was saying but she continued, “Personally, I don’t like to be called annoying, and especially not while I’m out doing something as ordinary as shopping for groceries.”

She held up her basket and shook it a little to get her point across. Marlo eventually caught on to what she was implying and started fruitlessly apologizing for his misconduct.

“I’ll let it slide for now since I’m going to be coming back here all the time anyway. But just know that I think the customer service is poor,” she said, expression still neutral as ever, “Thank you for helping me,” she pretended to squint at my nametag, “Jean.”

“It was my pleasure, miss,” I responded with a grin and she winked at me as she walked away, leaving Marlo speechless.

“But I thought- but she-?”

“Nice try,” I pat him on the back and gave a half shrug before walking off, leaving him alone with the cart as I returned back into the ‘staff only’ area to get some more stock.

I got a call from Reiner later in the day asking if I wanted to hang out but I declined and told him I was going to see Sasha instead because she needed someone to rehearse with and I promised I’d help. He and Bertholdt would be here for a while anyway, I had plenty of time to catch up with them. I was mostly just ecstatic that Mikasa and I were on speaking terms again and I considered giving her a call to ask if we were still good but eventually decided it would probably be better to wait it out, and headed over to Sasha’s place instead.

Sasha lived in an area that was more woodland than actual civilization but her house was built into a row of others with an entrance to the forest built right next door. I opened the gate and walked into her yard, side eyeing the badly positioned basketball hoop that she’d begged Eren to help her hang up out in front. At first it looked pretty ridiculous but I guess it still kinda worked. Well, Eren was proud of it at least.

Just as soon as I was about to knock the door swung open and Sasha appeared wearing a tank top and board shorts (not to mention her signature pair of mismatched socks). She was bouncing around on the balls of her feet, frantically trying to tie her hair up into a messy bun.

“Yooooo!” she grinned, “You sure took your time getting here.”

“And you sure didn’t take any running to open the door.”

She shrugged, “I was watching from the window. You ready to rehearse?”

“Like I have a choice,” I replied but this only made her smile widen and she grabbed my arm to pull me inside.

“My mum isn’t here so you don’t have to take off your shoes when you walk though, just make sure they aren’t muddy,” she said as she led me towards the kitchen to open the door leading to her back garden.

“And you’re going to go outside in your socks?”

“Nah,” she slipped her feet into a pair of rose colored Wellington boots and walked out onto the terrace. She did a couple of awful dance moves on the way and pulled out a wad of paper one of the pockets in her shorts, “The script!”

“Yay,” I replied unenthusiastically and she whacked me on the shoulder, “-Ow!”

“Be excited!” she exclaimed, flicking through the pages until she got to the place she was looking for, “I told you already that we were going to go through my script! What did you expect!? A pizza party!?”

I shrugged. Maybe.

\----------------------------

“Do you think Connie would be upset if I told him we got pizza without him,” Sasha mumbled mid chew, eyes never leaving the phone she was balancing on top of her knee, “I mean, I know _I_ would.”

“Probably,” I sighed, laying my head back on the couch so I could look at her, “It is the god of all things foody after all.”

“Indeedy-doo.”

“Indoody-dee. It’s so freaking weird seeing you act, man” I said, changing the topic when she reached over for another slice of pizza, “You’re like a completely different person.”

“Well, yup,” she hummed, popping the p. She typed something else into her phone and sat back again, kicking her legs out over my lap, “That’s the plan at least. It was an urgent casting call so I’ve gotta try my hardest to prove myself and ya know, not fuck up.”

“But that’s reasonable, yeah,” I replied, grimacing at her dirty socks, “What I wanted to ask is if you’re coming back to work?”

She shot me an unreadable look and thinned her lips in thought for a while before speaking again, “For now, yes but I’ve been considering quitting for a while anyway. It would be super hard to fit work in with well, more work.”

“And you’re not worried about rehearsal times?”

“Yes, obviously,” she said, raising both eyebrows, “but aside from that I’ve kinda got a whole bunch of other stuff on my mind right now too.”

I didn’t know what to say to that so it was silent for a moment aside from Sasha’s vacant chewing. By ‘other stuff’ I was sure she was referring to the Marco situation that had popped back up after half a year of pretending not to think or care about it anymore. She didn’t say anything else on the matter so I left it be until I got home. It wasn’t until I pulled out my old phone from my desk drawer in my bedroom that I realized it was out of juice so I ended up thoroughly searching for the box I’d shoved in my closet to find my charger (successfully).

I busied myself with making coffee while I waited for it to turn on and started to pace around my living room until it eventually did.

If I did call him, what would I say? Fuck it. Would he even respond?

I stared at the cracked screen for about five minutes, trying to weigh out the pros and cons. I had no idea what he was like now. We hadn’t spoken for two whole years, for crying out loud! What the fuck was I even supposed to say!? _‘Oh, hey it’s me! Just your used to be best friend, haha! Hey, can I just ask? Why did you disappear for two years without contacting me or any of our friends? Thanks, that would really be appreciated.’_

No! Ughhhhhhhhh.

Dammit, Reiner! Why did you have to put me in this position!?

I took a sip of coffee and jumped down on the couch, watching as the warm liquid swished around at the sides of the mug.

I could call Mikasa maybe? For advice.

But she already knew what was going on and I really didn’t want to push it, even after what happened this morning at the supermarket. Historia was totally out of the question and I couldn’t call Eren either because a) he screams over the phone and b) he is a complete idiot! Plus, I was 100% sure I wouldn’t be able to handle his attitude after hanging around Marlo at work for six whole hours by force. 

I could call Armin?

No ugh, he has exam prep.

“I’m alooooone,” I whined, slipping further down the couch until I landed on my knees on the carpet, “I’m going to be a miserable bastard for the rest of my life.”

Why were my friends like this. Traitors to the core. WHY CAN’T YOU GUYS BE THERE FOR ME IN MY TIME OF NEED!?

Okay, now I’m sad.

I made another grab for my phone and looked through my contacts again. Would it be weird to call Annie? I did know her but I didn’t exactly _know_ her. We used to be kind of friends and we still spoke occasionally so I guess it was still worth a try.

“Hello?” she answered on the second ring and I tried to compose myself.

She’d been living with Reiner and Bertholdt too, right? So she’d probably know if they’d contacted Marco.

“Hello?” she said more impatiently this time, “If this is a prank call then I’m hanging up-”

“No! No, it’s Jean,” I finally responded, “Wait, do you not have my number in your phone?”

“Oh no, whoops, my bad,” she replied slowly with no freaking emotion whatsoever, “Whaddya want?”

I paused. What did I want? Advice? Information?

“Do you know anything about Marco? Like, Marco as in Marco Bodt. You know the guy me, Sasha, and Connie used to hang out with like, two or three years back.”

“Obviously.”

I shot my phone a dirty look, knowing she couldn’t see the annoyance on my face but wishing there was some sort of way I could transfer my expression via mobile. I couldn’t tell whether she was being blunt or just taking the piss out of me but I guessed it was probably just both.

“So you know about him moving back to Trost?”

“Yes.”

“Are you laughing at me?”

“No.”

Liar.

“Look, I just want you to explain why he’s coming back- if you know, obviously. And if you don’t could you at least tell me what the fuck is going on and how Reiner and Bertholdt came back into contact with him?”

She gave an exaggerated sigh before answering, “They ran into him down at the drugstore by their house one time when they were getting ointment for Bertholdt’s back rash,” there was a brief pause filled with the sound of someone popping gum and I rolled my eyes, “they said there was an accident.”

I frowned in realization that Marco had been in the same place as they were and they still hadn’t even brought him up until last week. So bloody typical.

“What kind of accident?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know, I‘ve never even met the guy,” she replied and I knew the sound of gum was her going by the way she was chewing into the phone microphone, “It’s something big though, according to my sources.”

“Sources?”

“Reiner and Bertl, duh. You ask way too many questions.”

I sighed in frustration, “I just want to clarify.”

“Well it’s coming out of my mouth so isn’t that enough?”

Maybe it would be if you were more freaking specific. Jesus fucking Christ.

“But does this accident have something to do with him not contacting us?” I tried again, aiming to sound less ticked off in case she suddenly hung up. There was a random crackling sound on the other side of the receiver.

“I dunno. Maybe.”

“ _Please_ be more specific, I’m grasping at straws here.”

There was another crackling sound and I assumed it was just her shrugging (she still seemed to do that a lot).

“They didn’t really say much about it,” she hummed, “They looked kind of disturbed though when I asked.”

“Asked what?” I replied frantically, “Annie, what did you ask!?”

“Ugh, chill your beans. I just asked what happened to him to make them look so weirded out and they just told me not to worry about it.”

“So you figured it was something big?”

“Sure did, still do.”

“Alright, thanks,” I groaned. At least I got a little bit of information out of it. I should probably let Sasha and Connie know.

“Okay, cool,” Annie sighed loudly into the phone, “Are you done now? Because I kind of wanna watch X Factor.”

“That show is stupid.”

“You’re stupid.”

“Yeah okay, but add my number to your-”

She hung up.

I lay my head back against the couch cushion and mulled the conversation over in my brain. If Annie thought that something big happened then she was probably right. She had some pretty killer instinct about these sorts of things. Was I even supposed to ask Reiner and Bertholdt about it? If they didn’t tell Annie then I wasn’t sure if they’d tell me either. Especially if they looked ‘disturbed,’ it just didn’t add up.

Maybe that’s why they’d kept the whole meeting him thing from us. If it was this big a deal it had to be hard to talk about. Maybe I’d gotten Marco all wrong. Maybe he wasn’t a bad guy after all.

No, of course he was. He could have said something. I was probably just looking for the worst case scenario like maybe he’d gotten hurt. That was the first thing that came to mind when I heard the word accident but I didn’t know enough to be sure.

I sent Sasha and Connie a text about what Annie had said and finally stood up when I figured they weren’t going to reply instantly.

I should’ve asked when he was moving back. Dammit!

Great. Guess I’d just have to wait that one out too.

\----------------------------

**_Sent today at 10:18am_ **  
_Wanna go grab a coffee together later ????_

**_Received today at 10:25_ **  
_I can’t, sorry! I have a lot of work to cover. Next time, okay? :)_

I frowned at my phone and placed it back on the countertop in my kitchen.

It had been really hard to get in contact with Armin lately and it was really starting to bug me, which was odd because normally I would just text someone else and make other plans, but for some reason this felt sorta different. Like weird different. And it’s not to say that Armin was expendable because he totally wasn’t and my newfound vexation was pretty much pure proof of that. It was probably only around this time that I’d actually realized how much I missed hanging out with him when his schedule was more flexible. But now every offer to hang out was met with an ‘I’m sorry’ or a ‘I have work to do’ and it was kind of surreal how much those words had really started to upset me.

I mean, it definitely wasn’t Armin’s fault. He was just trying to get his studies done and I was being super duper needy. Maybe all the recent emotional exhaustion had started to make me crave attention more than usual.

It was just that it had been almost three weeks since I’d last seen him face to face and not over the phone and now he was also skipping out on all of our group plans.

I had been spending a lot of time with Mikasa in the meantime but it was just casual dates and junk. I’d even asked her a bunch of questions leading up to why we hadn’t made our relationship public yet but she’d just replied that she ‘wanted to figure out where we stood in case things got messy and interfered with the group,’ which was pretty understandable but it didn’t mean I wasn’t still slightly ticked off by it. Just the whole hiding part didn’t sit very nicely with me, it just wasn’t how I did things.

**_Sent today at 10:29am_ **  
_It’s cool don’t worry about it, yea sure we can do something some other time_

He didn’t reply after that and I leaned over to lay my cheek on the countertop and stared intensely at my phone for god knows how long afterwards. Could something like this be considered pining? Ugh. 

This is stupid why am I getting all hung up about this tiny little thing. There are other people I could talk to. Heck, if I texted Eren I bet he’d answer pretty much straight away! That douche was always on his phone.

**_Sent today at 10:52am_ **  
_Eyyyy fuckface_

**_Received today at 10:52am_ **  
_sup nerd_

I was right!

**_Sent today at 10:52am_**  
You busy?

**_Received today at 10:52am_ **  
_lol no_  
_u wanna play mini golf with me and historia ?_

What the fuck? Mini golf? Seriously?

**_Sent today at 10:53am_ **  
_Okay yeah whatever, what time you meeting?_

**_Received today at 10:53am_ **  
_like 2????we are meeting at my house so bring ur car pretty pls thanks_

Bastard. That’s probably the only reason why he invited me along. I accepted nevertheless and waited around before heading out.

It didn’t take too long to arrive but Historia and Eren were waiting on the porch when I got there, both of them dressed somehow more ridiculously than usual. 

They both wore tartan patterned trousers and brightly colored sweaters (Historia’s pink and Eren’s mint green) with a pair of matching caps placed neatly on their heads. The only thing that took away from their new clean cut golf image were the face piercings and Historia’s footwear but other than that I was ready to jump off the nearest bridge if I saw anybody I recognised while we were out. Historia skipped over in her signature pair of combat boots and climbed into the back of my car without even saying hello while Eren hopped into the passengers side, flashing me a quick grin.

“You guys ready to get your asses whooped?” he said, already fiddling with the radio dial before I’d even gotten the chance to respond.

“There is no way you are gonna win,” Historia replied, leaning forward to rest her tiny elbows on the back of our seats, “I’m a pro at golf.”

I sighed inwardly and started to drive, “You guys do realise that mini golf is not like actual golf, right?”

“Pfft,” Eren waved his hand at me dismissively, “How different can it be? I mean, we’ll still be hitting stuff, won’t we?” he glanced back at Historia who seemed to be equally as unsure, “Won’t we?”

She shrugged.

Lord, what had I gotten myself into?

The mini golf place was only a half hour drive away and when we finally got to the course the two of them immediately ran towards the holes and left me to pay for the equipment. Fucking hell, it was like looking after a couple of children. I was only twenty years old, dammit! I did not sign up to be the parental guardian on this trip.

“Look, there is a dinosaur one!”

“Eren, someone is using that hole!” I called over to them as I handed the man over the counter the money for the clubs, “Eren! Wait- stop!”

I sighed and beckoned the two of them over to the first hole, which took a while after having to apologise to the random family over by hole 13 after Historia had “accidentally” kicked their daughter’s golf ball into a small pond nearby.

“You are a twenty-three year old woman,” I sighed, covering my face with my hands, “Why would you even think that was acceptable?”

“She called me short and I couldn’t think of a reasonable way to retaliate through verbal communication!” she replied like it was obvious and I felt my eye twitch.

“Yeah! Stop whining, horseface. Let’s start already!” Eren said (demanded) as he positioned his ball at the starting point, “This one looks super easy.”

Here we fuckin’ go.

Eren swung his club and the three of us followed the ball with our eyes as it rocketed across the course and bounced over the side of the small barrier circled around the outside.

“Maybe be a little softer,” Historia suggested and Eren frowned and went to retrieve his ball from where it was rolling away.

See Armin, this is what happens when you don’t wanna hang out, I have to wander around babysitting these two.

It took around a gazillion tries for them both to get the ball into the first hole and by this point I was starting to question whether or not they actually knew how the concept of golf worked in the first place.

“We should have invited Annie,” Eren huffed as his club missed the ball for probably the twentieth time today, “She would’ve probably kicked this game’s butt.”

“You’re the one who wanted to play mini golf,” I sighed and Historia nodded from where she was sitting on top of a giant metal mushroom on the course.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think it would be this hard!”

“Bleghhhhh, screw golf, man,” Historia frowned and leaned back to look up at the foggy sky, “At least our outfits are cute.”

I rolled my eyes, “I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if you two told me that the point of this whole trip was just a fashion statement.”

“Originally, maybe,” Eren shrugged, finally knocking his orange golf ball into the hole, “but you seemed pretty down in the dumps lately so we thought it couldn’t hurt if you tagged along.”

I raised an eyebrow in disbelief and it was Historia’s turn to roll her eyes.

“We’re your friends too, dude,” she said, “It is kind of hard not to notice.”

Notice what? The fact that everything that was chill in my life so far was slowly becoming more and more unchill? The fact that it had been three weeks since Armin and I had last had an actual conversation that lasted over a minute? The fact that some weird part of me still really wanted to see Marco again?

“Yeah, well it’s nothing,” I replied, grabbing my golf club from where I’d left it on the ground while I was waiting, “Let’s just get this last hole over and done with so I can go home, alright?”

Eren and Historia exchanged a knowing look but didn’t say anything else as I made my way towards where I’d last hit the ball.

_Stupid Marco,_ I thought as I readied my club.

Stupid friends.

Stupid- “Ugh!”

My club hit the ball hard and it sped the rest of the way through the course before slowing down and sinking into the hole. Eren looked mildly impressed at the distance it had been aimed from and rightly so. Historia just jumped down from the metal mushroom and headed over to where her ball was to knock it into the hole.

Eren (a.k.a. the human calculator) added the numbers on the score sheet up quickly in his head and I wasn’t exactly too surprised to see that I won (especially after the long time it took to get him to hold the club properly). Historia came in close second as it took her a while to warm up in the beginning but she seemed to get progressively better to the point where I was starting to worry about being beat.

“Can we get a ride back?” she asked and I nodded sure.

I dropped them off back at Eren’s and when they both waved goodbye I might have even felt a tiny bit better. At least the day hadn’t been wasted after all, it just reminded me of the sentiment that sometimes nothing goes exactly to plan. I’d just have to make do while I could. It was silly of me to get upset about stuff that could be easily solved later along the line and I figured that when the time comes I’d just have to deal with whatever was thrown at me.

I still had my friends by my side all the way and that’s all that really mattered but one thing was for certain now. When Marco finally came back to Trost I would try and find him and listen to what he had to say to take the weight off my shoulders. The same weight that had probably resting there for two whole years until my body thought ‘hey, this enough, I’m done here.’

The same weight that Sasha and Connie were probably still holding onto while I’d been feeling sorry for myself for the past four weeks and started acting like a recluse. It was time hit the nail on the head. 

When he came back I was going to be ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a tiny bit of plot relevant/filler that I wanted to get out of the way so I promise you guys a super good chapter next time! Thanks so much for all the support!! (I promise a whole ton of Armin too so don't you worry :D)


	10. Things Better Left Unsaid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A.K.A. The most dramatic game of laser tag in all existence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUESS WHO!!! THAT'S RIGHT!!! IT'S ME!!
> 
> I have returned with another filler chapter because there is going to be some nice plot related chapters coming up after and you guys know I live for the drama. I'm sorry for the long wait so I hope you all enjoy this chapter!!
> 
> Happy reading!

Eren’s new haircut was absolutely ridiculous.

It was kind of like a faux hawk but the sides of his head weren’t shaved down to buzz cut level like Connie’s so instead it was just sort of fluffy, and combined with the small gelled up neon green spikes at the top, it came out looking like the next big trend within the hipster community. Which was terrible, to say the least. Literally everything about it looked completely out of place and it didn’t exactly take a genius to figure out that this was just another one of his ‘brilliant,’ spontaneous decisions that would probably last for about a week until he realized how stupid it actually was. 

And to make matters even worse, random chicks were totally fawning over him willy-nilly wherever we went. Which SUCKED. Like yeah ladies, this is a guy who still shops for nail polish at hot topic and harbors a weird unspoken hatred towards Coco Chanel. Big whoop.

“Who’re you texting?” he asked, leaning over my shoulder to sneak a peek at my phone.

It was a Friday night so we’d decided to stop by the club Connie was working at to pay him a visit after he swapped shifts. We were standing by the bar and Sasha was on my other side, sipping gingerly at the strawberry daiquiri I was quite sure I hadn’t seen her order herself.

“Why do you care?” I sighed back and he shrugged.

“Why do you? Just answer the question, who’re you texting?”

He was persistent. I’d give him that.

“Armin, again,” I waved my phone in front of his face and he raised an eyebrow skeptically, “with no reply. _Again~!_ ”

“Dude, you should know he never picks up during exam season,” he snorted, sniffing at his own drink questionably, “He gets stuck into his work harder than Mikasa and Levi watching season five of RuPaul’s drag race.”

“Well, thanks for that useless piece of information.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Oh, aw,” Sasha tapped me on the shoulder and gave me a sympathetic look, “He’s still not answering you? Man, that blows.”

“Pshh, whatever. You’re making me sound desperate.”

“Aren’t you?” Eren mumbled into his glass and I shot him a dirty look.

“No.”

Yes. Maybe. Well, I was more restless than anything. There was only so many texts you can send a person before you started wondering if they had dropped off the planet entirely and I had probably already surpassed that limit at least a good twenty minutes ago. Dammit, Armin. Pick up your stupid phone.

“Oh come on, schnookums. Stop looking so down!” Sasha pinched my cheek hard before waving her hand around in the air a little at the unexpected texture of my skin, “Eugh, stubble! Jean, what the hell, do you not know how to use a razor? Please shave it off unless you want me to do it myself.”

“No, don’t shave it off,” Eren smacked her hand playfully out of the air and leaned back against the bar to rake his eyes over me teasingly, “It looks kinda hot.”

“Okay now I’m definitely gonna shave it off.”

“Hey-!”

“Thank God!”

“Eren, your sex drive is crazy high,” I remarked and Sasha nodded in agreement.

“Ugh, yeah, I know,” he frowned, sipping at his drink again, “You’re not even that hot, sorry.”

Sasha snorted loudly into her daiquiri at the last part and I shot him another look, feeling partly more offended this time, “I’m like the hottest guy here right now, what are you even talking about?”

“Meh,” he shrugged, fiddling with his cheek piercing.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean!?”

“It just means that I’ve seen better looking.”

“What-!? Who!?” I replied, feeling absolutely scandalized.

He had to be kidding me, right? I was definitely the hottest guy here.

“Well, there was that super cute guy we passed by on the way in,” he sighed dreamily, “The one with the blue hair and the lip piercing.”

“Ooo-! The one that was wearing the brown leather jacket!” Sasha exclaimed, leaning around in front of me to better talk to Eren, “I noticed him too!”

“He was really hot, right!?”

“Yeah, totally! Oh my god-”

“Don’t encourage him!” I snapped, heaving a sigh before leaning back against the bar with my phone still in hand. She shut her mouth and poked my side jokingly.

“You’re just grumpy ‘cause you’re single.”

“No I’m not!” _And I’m not single,_ I wanted to say but I kept my mouth shut, “Eren is single too!”

“Mm, I suppose,” Eren sipped his drink again and glanced away awkwardly, “but I’ve still had my fair share of dick recently.”

“I was trying not to include your random hook-ups.”

“Pshhh, moody _and_ jealous. We should try and hook you up tonight too, Jean,” Sasha joked, bouncing up and down on her heels a little, “There are plenty of cute girls here- and even guys maybe… Eyyyy, what do you think?”

I saw Eren’s eyes sweep the place at the mention of guys and I refrained from rolling my eyes. Sasha just laughed again and poked my cheek before continuing, “Actually, speaking of guys… you never did get around to telling me what happened that night you ran out on me and Connie a while back.”

Eren raised his eyebrows curiously.

“What night?” I sighed, “be more specific.”

“You know what I’m talking about, don’t play coy,” she leaned forward a little to ‘whisper’ loudly in my ear, “That time the week before my audition. Booty call night.”

Eren almost spat out his drink, “BOOTY CALL NIGHT!?”

“-SSHHH, shh,” I hissed, putting a finger to my lips to silence their growing laughter, “It wasn’t a fucking booty call, alright?”

“Mhmmm,” Sasha put her straw back to her mouth to sip at her own drink, “That’s what they all say.”

Eren looked a little too invested now if you asked me, and I felt incredibly relieved when I heard the track change to something a little more rave-y and spotted a familiar bald head walking towards the bar.

“HEY! Look guys, it’s Connie!” I exclaimed, quickly grabbing him by the elbow before he could figure out what was even going on. He blinked rapidly up at me for a couple of seconds upon realization that it was us and threw his arms up spontaneously in greeting.

“It’s me! Yeah!” He grinned, “I was on my way to get a drink, I didn’t realise you lot were chilling here too!”

Eren looked between the two of us and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “Hey, what about the boot-?”

I slapped a hand over his mouth, “Well, here we are!”

“Here you are!” Connie replied before leaning over the bar to order. Sasha whispered for him to buy her another daiquiri too and only when I realized I was in the clear did I remove my hand from Eren’s mouth.

He looked absolutely revolted which was kind of funny since he was literally eyefucking me just a few minutes ago, but I let it slide.

“So is anybody else here that we know?” Connie asked, handing Sasha her sugary drink before raising his own beer to his lips, “No Historia?”

He cast Eren a long look but he just narrowed his eyes back in response, “Why does everyone always assume that just because I’m out somewhere it means that Historia’s there too?”

“Uh duh, because you guys are like _besties~,_ ” Sasha sang, “I mean you go shopping together and everything, even Jean refuses to do that with me and we’ve known each other forever!”

“Well, yeah,” he replied standing up a little straighter before reaching up to touch his new haircut, “she’s like my fashion soul mate.”

“Yeah, because neither of you have any taste,” I added, looking back down at the sad little messages on my phone that _still_ remained unanswered, “Its like one day you two saw a random recycling bin in town and decided that it could pass as couture.” 

Eren looked outraged my comment but was quickly distracted by Connie asking him about his new haircut. Sasha leaned over to peek at my phone but I quickly went back to my home screen and she sighed, shooting me a pointed look.

“I haven’t seen you this hung up on someone texting you back in forever,” she whispered, for real this time, “Do you like…ya know?”

“Do I what?” I replied, internally praying that whatever she was asking wouldn’t turn into a game of twenty questions.

“Ya know?” She looked around and tapped her fingers together impatiently, “Do you like him?”

I rolled my eyes, “Obviously, we’re friends aren’t we?”

“No, ughhh,” she groaned and bounced around on her heels on the spot, “I mean like, like. Like, do you like _like_ him?”

I leaned forwards a little to glance over at Eren and Connie but they were deep in conversation about some celebrity now. Sasha was still waiting for me to reply but I didn’t exactly know what to say. I blinked slowly a couple of times as I mulled the idea over in my head.

Well, I did know. No, was the answer. Definitely, no.

This is stupid. If I knew that much then why couldn’t I just spit it out? The question obviously just caught me off guard because there was honestly no way I felt that way about Armin. I just missed hanging out with him and stuff, no biggie. That’s the only reason I was texting him. Yup, no feelings beyond friendship here.

You’re over thinking this, just reply before she gets the wrong idea, idiot.

“Dude…” Sasha lifted an eyebrow and shuffled closer until her chin was resting on my shoulder, “do you?”

A small smile crept onto her face.

“Uhh…”

“Hey, Sash!” Connie called and she took her chin off of my shoulder and stood up straight, “Whadd’ya think? Fingerless gloves paired with cardigans, yay or nay?”

“Yay, duh. Fingerless gloves go with everything,” she replied over her shoulder before giving me the ‘we are not done with this conversation’ look.

“See, I told you so,” Eren said and Connie scoffed, “Eren 1, Connie 0.”

“ _Bin couture~!_ ” I sang loudly enough for Eren to hear over the music as I started typing out a new message on my phone.

“ _Shut the fuck up~!_ ”

“Who are you texting? Is it Reiner, ‘cause he still owes me money for coffee.”

I rolled my eyes as Connie bounded over and stopped beside Sasha.

Reiner and Bertholdt were leaving for home next week and Eren suggested we do something big as a group before they left. And even though I had a lot I still wanted to know, they hadn’t said much else about Marco’s return to Trost but instead gave me his new phone number ‘just in case’ I felt tempted to call. I was too scared to ask about ‘the accident’ (as Connie, Sasha, and I had now dubbed it) but I figured in the end that if I wasn’t going to get too invested in whatever this whole thing even was, I was better off not knowing. I didn’t even know when he was coming back, I mean it could even be a year from now or whatever! Who cares! Not me!

“I’m not texting,” I replied, shoving my phone back in my pocket before holding my empty hands up in the air, “See.”

“Well, it didn’t take you very long to turn asshole mode back on,” Connie said, raising his non-existent eyebrows back at me, “You guys wanna head out? I’m tired of staring at this club’s major interior design flaws, it’s driving me up the wall.”

“Yeah, people keep looking at me and it’s freaking me out,” Eren added and I rolled my eyes.

Yeah right, attention hog.

I could understand why Connie had wanted to leave, standing around DJ-ing for so long had to be super exhausting. Eren and Sasha spotted ‘cute blue hair guy’ again (who I was absolutely sure I was hotter than) on the way out and the two of them started making up scenarios that would may or definitely may not have happened if Eren went over to try and talk to him. Much to my satisfaction, Connie didn’t chip in to their conversation due to being confused about what the fuck they were even going on about and luckily we all left the club in one piece, and _without_ ‘cute blue hair guy’s’ number, which was actually pretty remarkable to say the least.

At the end of the week we’d finally figured out an appropriate group event for the occasion that did _not_ involve alcohol, much to Eren’s disappointment. Armin even called me, which was kind of weird after not hearing his voice for a while. It was pretty nice though, even if the conversation we’d had was mostly just a jumble of words and a couple of rushed apologizes. He genuinely sounded sorry about not replying, which made me feel kind of bad for pressuring him even though I knew he was busy. Eren and Mikasa didn’t at all seem fazed about his sudden disappearance from the group but when I brought it up they just said that they were used to it. Armin was too nice to stay mad at for too long anyways so I kind of understood their point, not that it made me feel any better. Curse my newfound softness!

He’d agreed to the group plans too, which was kind of a really great bonus and I was excited to see him. Though, on the day things didn’t really go as great as I’d originally hoped. Especially with a certain loud mouthed, faux hawked, eyeliner wearing, man-child such as Eren Jaeger picking a fight with me at every given opportunity.

“Okay, so lemmie think about this for a sec,” Eren said, taking another sip of his caramel frappuccino before turning to face Mikasa again, “If I have you on my team will you listen to all my commands?”

“No.”

“But I’m the leader!”

Mikasa only shrugged in response so I nudged her with my elbow and she whipped her head around to face me.

“See,” I hummed, gesturing towards Eren who was walking backwards with Annie along the pavement in front of us, “That’s why you gotta be on my team.” 

Reiner and Bertholdt were very far up ahead now, completely oblivious to the argument that quickly broke out between the two of us. So far ahead even, that it didn’t really look like they were even apart of our group anymore, they were more like two giant specks floating around in the distance, even though it was supposed to be ‘their day,’ according to Connie.

“Well, who even elected you guys leaders in the first place,” Historia pouted, taking a sip of her own coffee, “It should be majority rule.”

I rolled my eyes, “This is laser tag, not a government election.”

“Oh right, yeah because I would totally vote a total douchebag like you into a position of power.”

“It worked for Fritz so it’ll work for me.”

She huffed loudly in irritation and turned away at my comment to fiddle with her lip ring. Wow, sorry for speaking the truth.

“Don’t worry about it, Historia. Just humour them. They always get all riled up about laser tag.”

“We do not!” Eren and I replied in unison.

Mikasa heaved a sigh.

I couldn’t help the fact that every game between Eren and I turned into a competition, it was just in our nature. And it was _healthy_ competition, might I add. Just healthy competition that may or may not turn into all out war within the first five minutes of whatever we were playing 99% of the time, no big deal. The two of us had been arguing back and forth since we’d all stopped off at Starbucks earlier and Eren just didn’t seem to be giving up.

I placed a firm hand on his shoulder, “Look, buddy. Mikasa is gonna be on my team.”

“That’s no fair though, you already have Sasha!” Eren scowled and Sasha looked up from where she was already digging into her chocolate chip muffin.

“You snooze, you lose, Jaeger.”

“You’re only saying that because you know you have no argument! Mikasa is on my team.”

“Why don’t you just flip a coin, winner gets Mikasa,” Armin suggested from where he was trailing behind with Connie and Sasha, “Then it will be all over and done with.”

I could hear a little bit of irritation in his voice though his expression was still as passive looking as usual. He pulled out a penny from his pocket and placed it in my hand placidly. Geez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. It was probably just because he was neglecting his studies but I didn’t really understand how he could work all the time non-stop like that. If it were me in his position I would’ve been longing for a day off.

Eren snatched the coin out of my hand as if yielding it himself would give him better chances of winning. He stopped quickly for a second to flip it and glanced up from his hand to shoot me a pointed look.

“Heads or tails?”

I shrugged aimlessly, “Heads.”

“EuGH-UGH, bzzzZZT. WRONG,” he grinned, showing off the other side of the coin still resting on top of his hand, “Tails! I get Mikasa on my team!”

“Whatever,” I frowned, “I still have Sasha on my team.”

Connie rolled his eyes and kicked the back of my shoe bitterly, “Why don’t you spare a thought for the rest of us, huh?”

He threw both arms around Armin and Historia’s shoulders and cast a look in my direction before continuing, “We’re feeling a little left out here.”

Sasha swallowed around another lump of chocolate and nodded furiously, “Yeah, you guys are being jerks.”

“It’s a competition,” Eren scowled and finally fell into step with us, “Why can’t you guys just chill out like Reiner and Bertholdt and keep out of it? They haven’t made a single complaint!”

“It’s a game!” Historia folded her arms crossly, “And we’re only complaining because we haven’t even gotten there yet and you guys are acting like total tools. Tell them, Mikasa.”

We both glanced over at Mikasa but she gave a half shrug just continued walking, “You guys _are_ kind of acting like tools.”

I heard Annie stifle a laugh and I immediately flared up in annoyance.

“Whatever, okay? I just want to win and Jaeger knows he’s gonna suck so you just gotta deal for now, alright?” I said and Historia shot me a dirty look, “No hard feelings?”

She scoffed loudly and shook her head in disbelief but didn’t respond. She, Armin, Connie, and Sasha just ignored us (childish much) and started talking amongst themselves while Eren and I tried to start up another conversation with Mikasa, though we were mostly just tossing insults back and forth between ourselves when her replies started getting shorter and shorter.

Yeesh. Why was everyone in such a bad mood today? 

“WE’RE HERE!” Eren screamed and I saw Annie jolt in surprise from where she was walking up in front.

I was about to make a comment about his noise level but he had already started running towards the building at this point without anyone being able to get a word in edgeways.

The place was mostly an arcade but it was more well known for sporting the best laser tag arena around for miles. We’d driven a quarter of the way through the journey in three small groups but Mikasa, Bertholdt and I ended up having to park our cars in a lot about twenty minutes away, which may or may not have ended up encouraging our ‘quick’ detour to Starbucks just five minutes into walking.

We all dumped our empty coffee cups in the bin outside and I scanned the room for Eren who was already hovering over beside the counter to give his name in for our booking.

“No, I paid online,” he huffed, pointing to the registration sheet the woman behind the desk had pushed towards him, “No it’s a party of ten, ugh- okay, that‘s not us-”

Reiner patted Mikasa’s shoulder, “I’m gonna help him out.”

“Please do,” she sighed, rubbing her eyes wearily, “Armin, do you have any painkillers? I‘ve got a serious headache from all the arguing earlier.”

“Yeah,” he dug around in his bag and pulled out a packet of ibuprofen to hand to Mikasa. She scooped him into a hug and rest her chin on top of his head.

“You are an angel.”

Armin still looked sort of miserable but eventually returned the hug while Connie, Sasha, and Bertholdt struck up their own conversation from where they were still standing beside the entrance. I dared to glance over at Annie and she shot me a dry look back from where she was leaning against the wall. Her eyes were likely about as cold as her soul (if she even had one, probably not.) and ten seconds into the unwanted staring match that I had somehow initiated she dropped her gaze and went back to blankly staring at the claw machine in front. _Ugh,_ I shivered, chills. 

She was so freaky.

“We’re in!” Reiner cheered as he made his way back over to us with a now sulking Eren on his tail, “Our game starts in twenty-five.”

I frowned, “Twenty-five? Twenty-five what?”

“You know? Twenty-five?”

“No…”

“Twenty-five?”

“Twenty-five, what!?”

“Bloody hell,” Annie sighed loudly and pushed herself up from the wall to stand up properly, “Twenty-five fucking minutes, duh.”

“Don’t say duh to me,” I replied, narrowing my eyes and she stood on her tiptoes to glower right back at me.

She pulled a face and stuck her tongue out childishly, “Duuuuuh.”

“Guys,” Armin maneuvered his way out of Mikasa’s grip and she walked over to Eren to rest her head on his shoulder instead, “Mikasa’s got a really bad headache so how about we stop fighting now and you know, play some games or something? I mean, this is an arcade, right?”

“Sounds like a plan!” Connie agreed and Bertholdt nodded along quietly, “Who wants to play foosball!?”

“Me, me!” Historia finally perked up, “Sasha?”

“Hell yeah!”

The four of them head upstairs to the upper floor arcade while Reiner and Annie trailed over to the claw machine across the room that she’d been eyeing since we got here. And then there was four…

“Wanna play air hockey?” I asked Armin and he shrugged and tucked one side of his hair behind his ear.

“I might just stay with Mikasa for a bit.”

His expression was still blank and he didn’t make any sort of eye contact with me whatsoever which was kind of weird but I figured it was just work stress. I ducked my head down a little to catch his eye and he turned away and refocused on something else. Yeah no, that was definitely a little bit more than kind of weird.

“Well…okay? If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

“Hey! I’ll play!” Eren called to me from where he was still supporting Mikasa. She groaned into her hands and he looked mortified for a second, “Uh, oh sorry. Sorry.”

He made his way over to me while Armin returned to Mikasa and I stared at him dumbfounded.

What was his deal? He was acting super cold. Did I upset him in some way? This has gotta be more than schoolwork related, right? We hadn’t seen each other in like a month and now he’s suddenly acting all distant and shit.

He barely caught my eye though he still shot me a confused glance nevertheless, “Um…well?”

I frowned, probably even more confused, “Well, what?”

“Well, aren’t you gonna go?” he replied, finally turning to face me properly. His eyes looked slightly watery but I didn’t question it any further and walked up the stairs to the arcade with Eren, still trying to figure out if I did something wrong.

Armin wouldn’t just be upset for no reason. Maybe it was stress? I didn’t see why he would be mad at me in the first place anyway. Had I really been that much of a jerk before?

I glanced back over my shoulder at him and Mikasa. They were whispering about something now so I rolled my eyes and turned back.

Whatever.

Eren was fairly good at air hockey, I had to admit. We got through a couple of games of that and dance dance revolution before Reiner was calling us back down for set up. Laser tag was new for Annie, Bertholdt and Armin but Sasha and Mikasa were practically elite. It was like child’s play to them. Meaning that there was going to be an indefinite mix of skill when we all played together.

“Okay, so for those who don’t know the rules,” Reiner grinned and waved the instruction sheet at Bertholdt, who glared daggers right back at him, “Since there are gonna be two teams there are gonna be two bases, you can shoot them to get the most points but after too many hits it’ll stop to ‘recharge’ for a couple of minutes. That means that you won’t be able to score points there until it’s fully charged up again. You got that?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Eren replied, waving his hand at Reiner to hurry him up, “Tell us the body part points!”

“Chest is ten points, back is five points, shoulders are fifteen, and the guns,” he cast a look over all of us, “twenty five points.”

“You aren’t adding dramatic effect. Just finish up,” Annie sighed.

Reiner held his hands up in defense, “Well, sorry for trying to mix it up a little! Geez… Every individual shot to a base is ten points, so make ‘em count.”

“This doesn’t sound as hard as I thought it would be,” Bertholdt whispered to Armin and he nodded in agreement.

“And I’m sure you guys already have the teams figured out, right?”

“Yes,” I replied, “Yes we do.”

“We do indeed,” Eren shot me a smug smile, “Actually Reiner, you’re on my team.”

“Oh yeah?” Reiner raised an eyebrow at the two of us, “Who else?”

“Mikasa, Armin, aaaaand Historia.”

“Jean?”

“I have Sasha, Connie, Bertholdt and…” ugh, “Annie.”

She was still glaring at me, I swear to god. I didn’t even have to look to know that much. I could sense it.

The only reason why Eren hadn’t picked her for his team was because he wanted to leave me with the inexperienced players and snatch Reiner for himself. The bastard.

“So can we suit up?” Mikasa asked, obviously already raring to go.

“Hell yeah!” Reiner grinned, shoving the instruction sheet into his pocket, “Let’s do it!”

We head towards the backroom and divided into our established teams. I went for the red vests and Eren immediately went for blue.

Oh, this was so fucking on right now.

“Scared of the dark, Jaeger?” I teased as we made our way into the arena and he shot me an uneasy look in return.

“We’ll see who’s chatting shit when I kick your ass, horseface.”

I scoffed and led my team towards the red base. The lights were dimmed down so we could see and I spotted Annie getting a good look around the place while Bertholdt stood shaking nervously beside her. Sasha already had her finger on the trigger of her gun and was whispering to Connie about where to hide but I already knew where I was heading.

Jaeger, you better watch your step.

Someone screamed loudly when the lights and starting alarm went off and I was about 99.9% sure that it was Bertholdt. Sasha and Connie quickly scampered off in a matter of seconds but Annie took her sweet time stepping down from the base platform to slink away into the shadows. I should have known that she’d put no effort in. That was so typical of her.

If our base was here then Eren’s definitely had to be somewhere opposite. I’d just have to figure out a way to go around the course rather than through it.

I fumbled along the wall nearest to my base for a while, waiting for my eyes to hurry up and adjust to the darkness. Everyone was probably just playing sitting duck and lounging around until somebody else walked by.

I crept around the wall and ducked underneath the balcony just in case somebody was lurking just behind it (a move often initiated by Sasha. That’s right, I knew everyone’s player tactics inside out). Eren was often the type to run around recklessly shooting like the complete twat I knew he was, while Mikasa would also attack but do so more skillfully.

Sasha was a range shooter so I was lucky enough to have her on my team and Connie was also a pretty fast shot. Reiner was definitely an all rounder.

I heard a loud buzz and my gun flashed and went dark.

“BOOYA!” Historia cheered from behind me, “That’s fifteen points, sucker!”

Another annoying thing about laser tag. When you got hit your gun powers down, meaning I couldn’t fucking shoot anyone for at least another thirty seconds. How nice and dandy.

She ran off in the opposite direction before I could respond and I cursed myself internally for not being on the look out for the newbies. Historia had obviously played laser tag before (god knows when) but she was super tiny and therefore really hard to spot, especially in the dark.

Shit.

Whatever. I continued towards the other side of the arena as quickly and quietly as I possibly could. I could already feel goosebumps forming on my arms at the silence even though the temperature of the room was more humid than anything. Why was it so quiet? There weren’t any laser sounds either and that was really, really weird.

After walking around the fucking labyrinth of an arena for another minute and a half I finally spotted the blue team base and yeah, maybe I was a little bit too overjoyed.

“ _Yesss,_ ” I hissed under my breath before holding up my gun and aiming it towards the roof of the base.

BZZT.

My gun powered down again and I glanced around the area, trying to scope out any movement but it was all blocked off by the large walls surrounding the place.

What the fuck? 

“ATTACK!” Eren screeched, jumping out from behind a pillar and rapid firing at me like a madman.

Mikasa, Armin, Reiner, and Historia jumped out from who the fuck knows where a couple of seconds later and I screamed a scream so high pitched that even I wasn’t sure that it even came out of my mouth.

“Oh my god! Fuck you guys!” I yelled but Eren grabbed my arm before I could get away, “This is cheating!”

“Motherfucking ambush, biatch,” Historia grinned, ~~stomping~~ dancing around in victory.

“You’re our prisoner now,” Mikasa said, holding her gun up to my shoulder, “If you try to escape we will shoot you.”

“Okay but no, this is actually cheating,” I replied but she just shrugged in response.

“Then come up with a better plan next time.”

“You know this is just a game, right?”

“It’s a _competition,_ ” Historia sneered, mimicking Eren’s words from earlier, “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

“This is an arcade.”

“Ooooh!” she lowered her gun to shoot me a dirty look, “You know what I mean!”

Surprisingly Reiner and Armin had been quiet throughout this whole exchange but I wouldn’t be all that shocked if one of them had come up with this _scheme_.

“Fuck you,” I spat at Eren but he just smiled sourly back.

“You wish.”

Asshole.

We all stood there long enough for me to finally realise that they were waiting for the others to come and ‘save’ me so they could get more points. Mikasa still had her gun pressed up against my shoulder but she kept her word and didn’t shoot.

Well I learnt one lesson today at least. Never play laser tag with your best friends because they will _betray_ you and use you as bait. 

“OI!” 

_Sasha._

She marched forward with her gun in hand and immediately waved her finger over at Mikasa to gain her attention, “UNHAND THE PRINCESS AT ONCE, YOU GEEZERS!”

“Oh, thank god,” I sighed, relaxing in Eren’s grip, “Hey! It took you fucking long enough to show up!”

“We were hiding,” Connie whined, suddenly appearing behind her, “How were we supposed to know that you weren’t playing the game properly?”

“What the hell do you mean ‘not playing the game properly!?’” I snapped back, “These twats are the ones that captured me!”

Mikasa pressed the tip of her gun harder against my shoulder as a warning and I sighed loudly in irritation.

“Just help me! Okay!? Fuck,” I shook my wrist out of Eren’s grasp, “And be quick about it!”

“As you wish, your majesty,” Sasha replied, pointing her gun at the bright blue lights on Mikasa’s.

Connie quickly targeted Historia before she had the chance to figure out what was going on, and I was finally able to snatch my own gun back from a now distracted Eren and point it at his chest and he aimed his right back at mine without hesitation.

“Reiner! Armin! What the fuck!?” Eren yelled desperately over his shoulder but the two of them stayed silent, “Hurry up and shoot them already!”

Armin shook his head frantically but kept his mouth shut all the same.

Those two hadn’t said a word since I had been captured and it was kind of starting to weird me out. And it was obvious Eren was thinking the same thing from the way he kept glancing back at them, worriedly biting his lip when they still didn’t respond.

“Come on, say something!”

“They can’t.”

A hand emerged from the darkness behind them to rest casually on Armin’s shoulder and Annie appeared a couple of seconds after, gun still pressed to his back. 

Oh. My. God.

It was only then did I notice Bertholdt’s gigantic frame towering behind Reiner’s and my jaw dropped in realization.

This was totally a stand off.

“Give us the princess and nobody gets hurt!” Sasha demanded, gun still steadily aimed towards Mikasa’s.

“Never,” Eren hissed back in his mock super villain voice.

“Eren think this through,” Historia said carefully and Connie gestured towards his gun, “They have the advantage here. If we shoot, they’ll shoot.”

“Release the princess or we’ll shoot.”

I groaned, “Can you please stop calling me ‘the princess!’”

“Never,” Sasha hissed this time and I rolled my eyes.

Eren’s eyes darted towards Sasha for a second to long at the sheer ridiculousness of it all and I finally found my opening. I got a clean shot to his shoulder and suddenly shots were being fired every which way.

“RUN!” Connie squawked and the I pushed past Mikasa quickly enough to make my escape. The five of us ran off while the blue team rushed to Eren’s aid.

The rest of the game continued a little less coordinately after that and I stuck with the rest of my team for the end of the round. It wasn’t exactly the best strategy but it was better than being ambushed again so we had to stay cautious, though I was pretty sure the other team were doing exactly the same since the only people not stuck to their respected groups like super glue were Annie, Reiner, and Historia (who had a bad habit of popping up wherever we went). Sasha was still racking up the most points with her keen eye though so the rest of us didn’t get a lot of shots in to say the least.  
After the round was over all of us head to the Mcdonald’s next door and split up into two tables (a.k.a. the blue table and the red table) to discuss our next approach.

“Okay, we need a better plan,” Connie said, shoveling a couple of fries into his mouth before leaning over the table to stick a stubby finger in my face, “You’re the leader. Think.”

“Uhhh…” I trailed off, not really thinking about anything in particular in that moment. Because really come on, how the hell was I supposed to think when all I can see is Jaeger glaring at me from across the room with his table of accomplices?

I caught Armin’s eye but he turned away and pretended to be looking up at the lampshade hanging over his table in relative interest. Ugh.

“Maybe we could corner them one by one?” Sasha suggested, playing with the straw in her drink vacantly, “Then we could just rack up the points and go along on our merry way.”

Bertholdt nodded silently in agreement but Annie didn’t say anything, instead opting to take a loud slurp of her diet Coca-Cola. The other table were still whispering among themselves and I saw Eren stick his finger up at me from where he was resting his elbow on Historia’s head.

We still had yet to check the score board but I was sure we were in the lead after that stupid stunt they tried to pull at the beginning of the match. Connie and Sasha were still talking battle strategy but Annie just lay her head on the arm Bertholdt was resting on the table long enough for me to think that she had fallen asleep.

I dared to cast another glance over at Armin who looked about as bored as I felt and I nearly jumped when I realized he was already staring at me but he quickly turned away again when he caught me looking. We’d probably had under a minute of conversation all day and that totally sucked considering the circumstances. Maybe laser tag was too competitive a game to make idle chat in. All the arguments this morning definitely didn’t help to say the least.

We made eye contact again a couple of minutes later but it was me that broke it this time when Sasha dug her sharp, most likely broken, nail into my shoulder to gain my attention.

“So we think…” she trailed off and glanced towards the other table before shooting me a knowing look, “No fraternizing with the enemy!”

“I’m not!”

“Then why are you looking at their table!?”

“I’m not looking at their table!” I snapped back and she rolled her eyes and stole a couple of my fries from the box lying on its side on the table, “I was just admiring their food.”

“Well, I guess that’s understandable but keep the staring to a minimum, dude,” she replied, “I know everyone over there is super good looking but still-”

I rolled my eyes, “They aren’t that good looking.”

She shot me a look that screamed ‘are you kidding me’ and I spared a glimpse over at where they were sitting. I mean yeah, they were all reasonably attractive (even Eren, eugh) but they had supermodel Historia for crying out loud! And Mikasa, who was like a goddess among sheep, and Armin, who was just super pretty, and Reiner who had enough muscle to crush a moving vehicle-

I took a deep breath, “Oh my god, we are the ugly table.”

“Hey!” Connie exclaimed from where he was sitting across from Sasha, “I’ll have you know that we are all exceptionally good looking, okay? Just because they-” he gestured towards Eren’s table, “are all stylish and _suave_ doesn’t mean that we don’t possess any charm of our own.”

“Ugh, say that again when I get my braces off,” Sasha mumbled, and I knocked her side gently.

“Your braces are fine, geez,” I sighed a little wearily, “Aren’t you getting them off this year anyway?”

“Soon, yeah,” she grinned, “I’ve had them on for like, forever.”

Eren’s table were starting to clean up their stuff and I saw Bertholdt check the time on his phone.

“There’s only fifteen minutes until the next round.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll make it,” Annie said, lifting her head off of his arm (that I’m pretty sure was numb by now), “I’ll just throw the rest of my cheeseburger and this mostly full diet coke away while we’re at it.”

She grabbed her drink and stood up slowly before walking over to the bin. I couldn’t really tell if her drink was actually full or if she was being sarcastic but I didn’t ask, if I did then she probably wouldn’t bother to do anything at all. Reiner and Eren head over to talk with her when their table finally got up to leave and I grabbed Armin’s wrist when he tried to walk past with Mikasa and Historia.

“Hey,” I said and he blinked back slowly before shooting me back a small confused smile.

“Hey,” he replied softly and I let go of his arm so he could continue walking and he did so without even a second glance.

Ugh, I should’ve at least tried to make some sort of conversation. There was no telling when I’d get another chance with stupid Eren hanging around like some sort of riled up military instructor.

I watched him walk away and Mikasa shot me a strange look over her shoulder that I couldn’t really decipher as she headed out the door with the others. I could already feel Sasha peeking over my own shoulder to try and get a glimpse of my expression.

“Subtle,” she giggled and I gave her a sharp poke in the nose.

“Shut the fuck up.”

She made a point of mock zipping her mouth closed and reached over to finish off the rest of my fries while the others did their own thing. Bertholdt was still glancing frantically at his phone when Annie finally found her way back to our table and we all stood up to leave. Apparently Connie had a totally “incredible” plan for the next round that was like, “completely impossible” to screw up. Which was probably bullshit because, come on, Connie’s plans were shit, lets face it. 

I still felt kind of airy from my earlier contact with Armin anyway and my fingers were practically tingling in anticipation to just get whatever this awkward tension was that had built up while we hadn’t seen each other out of the way and talk to him already because hey, it wasn’t like he was going to initiate anything with me himself by the looks of things.

“Okay, so I say we play equally as dirty as they did in the first round,” Connie said as our team crowded by the door to the arena.

“Ooohh,” Sasha clapped her hands together in excitement, “What’d you want us to do?”

He cleared his throat, “Well, first. We locate the darkest areas around the place…”

Maybe Eren told Armin not to speak to me. I mean, it was possible right?

“Then we swap our vests inside out.”

But that wouldn’t make sense because Armin wouldn’t do something as childish as that, number one. And number two, it didn’t explain why he looked so annoyed with me before, which was still nagging at my mind since he was perfectly fine in the morning up until everyone was arguing. But then again, Historia still seemed kind of mad at Eren, though even she still got into the game eventually.

_“…And also! We’ll be able to hide without them seeing us so when they go past we can just shoot!”_

I looked over at the other team only to find them staring up at the scoreboard from the previous round on the wall. Armin and Mikasa were having their own conversation but Eren looked like he was on the brink of arguing with Historia again so it seemed like their earlier tension hadn’t been diffused after all like I’d thought. Reiner was just completely oblivious to it all as he was obviously just trying to find his name on the damned thing (while we were taking a break another group had probably gone into the arena for their own game so the board was probably mixed with names we didn‘t recognize).

Mikasa glanced over to where we were standing and Armin followed her gaze, obviously still deep in conversation.

_“Ughh, Jean. What do you think?”_

What were they even talking about anyway?

_“Jean.”_

From the face Mikasa was making it obviously wasn’t something good.

“Jean!”

Annie whacked my shoulder with her tiny handbag and I yelped.

“Oi, what do you think of the plan?” she hissed, eyes widening to emphasize the last word, “You’re the leader, remember?”

Shit. I hadn’t been listening.

“Yup, yep,” I nodded, trying to make it look as if I had, “Sounds good to me.”

“Yaaaaay!” Sasha squealed, “Connie your idea was totally brilliant! We are so gonna win this thing!”

Haha, fuck.

It couldn’t have been that great a plan, right? I mean, it was Connie’s so it probably sucked. I’d just have to carry on as I always did and hope for the best.

And just as I’d thought earlier, our team was in the lead so far and I guess that’s probably why Eren was pacing around like he was on the verge of a breakdown. It also meant that I wouldn’t screw up as badly even if I didn’t know the plan. I mean, yeah I could always ask but my pride was totally at stake here! And I was pretty sure my leadership skills were still being tested by the looks of things, though it was probably the same over in Eren’s group too.

I felt antsy to get back into the game but there was at least another five minutes of waiting left before we were allowed in again.

The teams had split back up a little after both plans were devised but I was positive it was just because most of the people within them had suddenly started refusing to speak to each other. Starting with Historia and Eren who were standing at opposite sides of the room sulking like a couple of huge babies fighting over a chocolate bar.

Mikasa was sitting alone by the claw machine at the entrance and she jumped a little in surprise when I made my way over to stand beside her, which was weird, because this is Mikasa. And Mikasa was like almost never jumpy.

“You alright?” I asked and she nodded and reached up to clutch her head.

“Y-yep. Still have that headache though.”

I cocked an eyebrow, “Still?”

“Mhmm,” she nodded again and turned away to face the entryway but her reply sounded rushed, “The painkillers probably wore off or something.”

“Already?”

“Yes.”

I frowned and leaned forward to get a glimpse of her face but expression wasn’t revealing anything and my thoughts veered back to the conversation she had with Armin earlier on. They had both been talking on and off about something like the whole time we’d been here and hey, ya can’t blame a guy for being curious about what was going on. Mikasa was my girlfriend and I was just being rightfully concerned. Totally not nosey at all.

“Can I ask you something?”

She looked over towards where Eren was making conversation with Annie by the front desk and hummed a little in response, “Sure, shoot.”

My eyes flickered over to where she was staring cautiously, “What were you and Armin talking about earlier?”

Her head whipped back around so she could face me and she chewed her lip in thought for a moment before answering, “Things.”

Things? Really?

“He was just kind of telling about something personal, um- why d’you wanna know?” she continued and I shrugged.

“You guys have just been acting sorta weird. I mean, I’ve barely spoken to Armin all day and-”

“Ow! Oww-” Mikasa closed her eyes clutched her head harder and my eyes widened in surprise at her outburst, “Oh my god, it’s really bad. Can you go buy me some water please?”

She dug around in her purse and I stood in place, unsure of how to respond.

“Please,” she said again, dropping a couple of £1 coins into my hand before pointing to a nearby vending machine, “The game is going to start soon.”

“Yeah- Oh my god, okay!” I replied frantically, momentarily distracted as I scoped out where to go, “Stay here, I’ll be super quick!”

She hummed in approval as I rushed off to buy her water (the good kind, because I am knowledgeable about my beverages) but she was standing up before I got back because Sasha was already trying to usher her into the backroom to get equipped for the next match- dammit, Sash.

“Yo, hold up,” I said, virtually speed walking over to them before they got away. I held out Mikasa’s drink to her and she graciously took it, “Your water.”

“Thanks.”

“Ugh, Jean!” Sasha exclaimed, “Hurry up, we need to go! Come on!”

She grabbed both of us by the arm and dragged us away over to where both teams were waiting before we were even able to get a word in and Mikasa bit off the tab on the water bottle with her mouth and took a sip in acknowledgement. Eren’s team still looked fed up about their loss in the first round but mine looked practically ecstatic to get back in the game. Even Annie and Bertholdt, whose attitudes had changed considerably after lunch.

“Sorry about ambushing you before,” Armin mumbled to me as we all entered to grab our brightly colored equipment and I stuttered a bit in surprise. The two of us were walking at the back of the group and he’d apologised so quietly that it took me a couple of seconds to register if he’d actually said anything at all.

“I-it’s cool,” I whispered back when I’d finally composed myself enough to respond. He didn’t look up but I could still see the hint of amusement in his features so I continued, “I blame Eren anyways-”

He nodded a bit in understanding.

“I know you just went along with it.”

“Actually…” he trailed off to grab a vest off one of the walls along the side before turning to finally make eye contact, face barely visible in the dark, “I might have contributed a little bit to the idea.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

I smirked a little bit at his smug tone of voice and he shot me back that quirky smile of his own before continuing, “See you out on the field.”

He pulled the vest over his head before heading off to rejoin the blue team and my heart sped up a little in my chest. _Nerd._

Round two started off pretty okay to say the least. I mean, I still had no fucking clue what the plan was but everyone on my team ran off as soon as the starting alarm went off and Bertholdt didn’t scream this time, so all in all that was a pretty good sign.

However, a little later into the game things started getting a little…yeah.

I ran into members of Eren’s team constantly, which was normal enough, so I shouldn’t be worried, right?

Wrong. Because for some weirdass reason that was absolutely beyond me, my own team members were nowhere to be found - making me an easy target when I was the only one being shot at by more than one person at a time. And this sudden turn of events continued until I had lost all intention of actually trying to shoot the others in hopes of desperately searching for my own team (who were for some reason, nowhere to be found!). Bertholdt was fucking 6’3 and a half! How I hadn’t _at least_ found him skulking around definitely must have been bad luck on my part.

BZZZT.

“You okay?”

BZZZT.

“You seem kind of lost.”

“I’m not lost,” I sighed, turning to face Armin who was already shooting me an incredulous look of his own, “I’m looking.”

He rose an eyebrow.

“For my team!” I emphasized, “Who for some reason ARE NOWHERE TO BE FOUND! So yeah, just keep shooting me if you want.”

“What? You’ve given up already?” he scoffed but I just shrugged heavily in response, “With all your talk this morning I kind of expected you to be stomping around, cussing everyone out.”

I rolled my eyes, “Is that really how you see me?”

“Not really,“ it was his turn to shrug this time and he pushed past the wall he was hiding behind before he shot me, “but you were kind of acting like a jerk earlier.”

“Enough of a jerk for you to avoid me?”

“No,” he huffed, “maybe.”

He relaxed and dropped his guard when he realized I wasn’t going to shoot back and glanced behind him before continuing, “Not that I don’t feel bad about it.”

“So you _were_ avoiding me.”

“Guess so. Not anymore.”

I shook my head in disbelief. Was that really all it was?

“Why?”

“Well, I’ve been busy anyway but also, well…” he frowned, “Being with you makes me think a lot.”

I squinted at him until all I could see were the bright blue lights on his gun in the dark but opened them again once I had properly absorbed what he was telling me, “About what?”

“Things.”

“Oh, sure geez. Where have I heard that one before?” I grinned and his frown deepened, “These are the same things you were talking to Mikasa about, right?”

I saw his eyes widen considerably in the darkness and I took a step closer to peek at his expression but he looked down at the ground in a way that almost seemed embarrassed. I leaned sideways to make eye contact but the blue from the lasers made it hard for me to focus and we almost bumped heads in process.

“S-sorry,” he whispered, “I didn’t think she would tell you.”

“What?” I replied dumbly.

“I mean, it’s cool if you don’t y-ya know,” he replied quickly, “I know you like Mikasa but we can still be friends, right?”

“Uh, yeah.” _I am so confused about what’s going on right now._

He suddenly sighed and covered his face with his hands, “Ughhhh, ignore me. This didn’t happen. Can we just pretend you didn’t hear anything.”

“Okay? Uh, Armin-”

“I don’t even know why I said anything in the first place. We just haven’t seen each other in forever and I mean obviously you-”

“Armin,” I grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands away from his face. His eyes were watery and they glowed eerily because of the way the light from his gear reflected and bounced off of them, “I have absolutely no freaking idea what you are talking about.”

He recoiled a little in my grasp and furrowed his eyebrows up at me, “Huh?”

“Mikasa didn’t say shit.”

“Oh,” his cheeks were already starting to change colour but the only reason I could really see it was because of how close his face was. He straightened up suddenly and snatched his arms out of my grip to wipe at his eyes, “I’m sorry for rambling then.”

“Uh, yeah. It’s cool.” Dammit, I was not good at consoling people, fuck.

Whatever it was must have been personal or something because he didn’t say anything else after that so I took that as an incentive to finally voice my concerns.

“So you aren’t mad at me?”

He let out a short laugh and shook his head, smiling, “No, of course not.”

“So we’re good?” I asked, holding out my fist and he eyed it suspiciously, “I’m not gonna punch you. Come on, fist bump.”

“Really?” He rose an eyebrow skeptically.

“Yeah, it seals the deal,” I grinned and he sighed and complied, bumping my fist with his own, albeit doing so cautiously.

“OOOOH MY GOD,” Connie sighed loudly from somewhere behind Armin and we both just about screamed in shock, pulling me out of whatever weird stupor I was just in, “Jean, what the hell!? You‘re supposed to be hiding!”

“What!?” I bit back, looking him up at down as he emerged from the shadows before continuing, “Why the hell is your vest inside out!?”

“That’s cheating,” Armin said pointedly.

“Yeah,” Connie replied like he was stating the obvious (which he was), “and Jean is supposed to be cheating too but for some reason he decided running around with no defense was a part of the plan.”

“You knew,” Armin frowned up at me and I shook my head frantically.

“No! I promise I wasn’t listening!”

“You weren’t listening!?” Connie stuck his arms out to the side and waved them up and down like a bird, “You’re the one that validated the plan!”

“Yeah, well I’m sorry I did because it’s a shitty one!”

“You’re a shitty one!”

“That makes no sense!”

BZZZT.

“God, shut up already,” Armin sighed, gun still raised at where he’d shot me in the chest, “The round is almost over so stop yelling and play properly while we still have time.”

He head off in the direction he came from and Connie shot him in the back as he left, though he still didn’t seem to care in the slightest, which was quite funny in all honesty.

This was definitely one of the most ridiculously dramatic games of laser tag of all time.

\----------------------------

It was sad to see Reiner and Bertholdt go and I think even Annie was a little teary eyed when we left the arcade and head back to the parking bay to see them off.

Everyone’s feet were killing them after the long walk so I hung back with Mikasa and Historia as Connie and Sasha rushed forward to squeeze them into a hug and the sight was actually pretty laughable at best, especially with the way Sasha was wailing loudly into a distressed looking Bertholdt’s side.

“Next time you come back bring me a souvenir so we have something to remember you by!” Connie cried and Reiner pat his side sympathetically.

“It’ll only be a year,” I mumbled mostly to myself and Mikasa elbowed me in the side.

The three of us stood in silence after saying our goodbyes and I had to say it was pretty sad to see them go nevertheless. Armin and Annie were talking to Bertholdt now, even with Sasha still clinging onto him with her wrench-like grip, probably saying their own goodbyes.

“Hey,” Eren mumbled, skulking over to us from nowhere in particular.

He’d been particularly sulky on the way back too but I didn’t have to put up with his loud complaining as much as I thought I would.

“Hello,” Historia replied curtly and he sighed.

“I’m sorry for acting like a tool today.”

“No takey backsies-” I sneered and Mikasa jabbed me with her elbow again.

“And I’m also sorry about blanking you and saying it was a competition and junk when it was just a game,” he continued awkwardly, completely ignoring the snide comment I’d made as he directed his apology to Historia, who just shrugged in turn.

“Yeah, yeah,” she folded her arms and her finally expression softened, “You were a jerk and now you’re trying to apologise. I get it. ”

He laughed a little nervously, “Do you forgive me?“ 

_No_ I mouthed and that earned me a third jab.

Historia made a face like she was thinking about it and Eren bounced up and down on his heels with an expression that made him look like a kicked puppy, the bright green parts of his hair particularly stood out in the dark under the grimy orange tinge of the street lights and I zoned out a little staring at it.

“Of course I forgive you, dumbass,” Historia grinned, returning to her usual spirited self in mere seconds, “Just don’t pull that overly competitive shit again.”

“Okay!” he jumped up in the air gratefully and pulled her in for a hug and Mikasa coughed awkwardly into her hand before gesturing over at Reiner and Bertholdt who were already making their way over to their rental car.

“See you guys!” Reiner called out to us, “We’ll text the lot of you when we get to the airport tomorrow!”

Bertholdt only waved as he climbed into the drivers side and Annie ran up to them to give them one last hug and then the two of them were gone.

“Damn it,” Connie sniffled into his hand and Sasha put her arm around his shoulders, “I know they only just left but I miss them already.”

“Same here,” Annie muttered quietly and Armin pat her arm sympathetically.

“I guess now we just go home,” Mikasa shrugged, heading towards her own car and Eren nodded and followed along behind her, arms now linked with Historia, “See you all later.”

Armin gave Annie a final hug before walking off in the same direction and all four of them climbed into Mikasa’s small BMW, waving out the window at us when she started up the car and drove off.

“Looks like you’re coming with us this time,” I said to Annie and she shrugged, wiping at her eyes.

“Yeah, whatever.”

Enthusiasm at it’s finest. I guess I couldn’t really blame her.

I felt a little exhausted when I got back home and immediately flopped down onto my couch to scroll through any missed texts on my phone. Eren had already sent me a whole bunch of snaps of him pulling stupid faces on the drive back to his house, all matched up with a bunch of ridiculous captions that literally made no sense.

It almost came as a surprise when my phone suddenly buzzed in my hand. I recieved a text from Armin with an additional bunch of emojis and I suddenly couldn’t do anything but smile.

**_Received today at 6:45pm_ **  
_Do you want to grab coffee tomorrow before I start school?_

I stretched my legs out on top of the cushion at the end of the couch and hummed a tune I’d heard earlier on the radio under my breath as I thought about how to respond.

**_Sent today at 6:46pm_ **  
_if its any time before 6 then youre buying_

**_Received today at 6:46pm_ **  
_Deal._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispers* Jean's team won.


	11. My Shoes Smell Like Catnip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's showtime!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was so excited to post this chapter because I have been waiting since the beginning of this fic to write it and today is the day I can share it all with you!!wow!! It's still the same old but please bear with me and my super long outfit descriptions, I just want you guys to see what I see. I hope you enjoy it!

So I don’t exactly hate animals per say. But there was also a certain kind of animal I couldn’t tolerate seeing on a daily basis and to no one’s surprise the animal that I am referring to just happened to be a cat.

And this wasn’t just any cat, I have to make at least that much clear.

This was a gross, demon cat that just happened to show up out of the blue last month in my block of flats solely to make my life a living hell.

It was manky and mangled looking (even though it’s fur wasn’t particularly dirty) and had a long brown stripe lengthways along its back and it’s tail. It’s meows sounded more like a cross between a human shriek and a bird-like squawk more than anything actually cat related at all (not that I had much knowledge of them in the first place), and it almost always trailed around behind me most days, making this particular noise whenever I tried to unlock the door to my flat. Which was an even bigger nuisance than I had ever wanted nor anticipated.

One time it even followed me inside my kitchen! Not that I even knew who owned the bloody thing in the first place! I had to get Eren to come over and remove it before I took one step inside my home and he did so willingly, even when the retched thing practically clawed his fingers off in the process, he was still cooing at it like a small child, god knows why.

“She likes you,” Eren grinned, holding it up to my face and I recoiled immediately, who knew where it had even been.

“Well, I don’t like _it,_ ” I scowled, “Get it away from my flat. When I find the owner I’m going to give them a piece of my mind!”

“Psh,” he scoffed, “Good luck with that, animal hater.”

“Just because I don’t want that ugly cat in my home does not mean that I am an animal hater! Just take it away! Don’t you have somewhere else to be anyway.”

He hummed softly in response and the cat started clawing at his hand again, “Yeah I do, I’m going to the salon with Historia today.”

“You guys are really gonna get all done up for tomorrow night, huh?” I replied and he just shrugged and walked over to the stairs to put the cat down, “Also you should wash your hands after touching that.”

“’Kay boss. God, sometimes you‘re worse than Levi with all the nagging,” He rolled his eyes and looked down at the scratches on his arm, “but yeah we are and I know you will too so don’t give me that look. Sasha said it’s a black tie kind of event and theatres are always full of posh people anyway so I’m not gonna chance looking like shit.”

“Isn’t that a bit hard for you?” 

He rose an eyebrow in question, “What?”

“ _Not_ looking like shit,” I grinned and he glared over at me from where he was still standing.

“Say one more word and I’ll wipe my animal germ hands on your sweater.”

“Ugh, fuck off,” I replied before pulling out £15 from my wallet and waving it at him, “Just take my money and leave.”

He looked surprised by the sentiment and walked back over to snatch it out of my hand from where I was dangling it, making an obvious point of not touching my skin with his own unwashed hands.

“It’s not like you to give me money.”

“Yeah but,” I sighed, “you paid transport fees to come all the way over here so I might as well.”

“Like £1.90-”

“Just fuck off and take my money, alright.”

“Alright, fucking hell,” he replied, slipping the money into his pocket before wiping is hands on his black skinny jeans, “See ya later, horseface.”

“Whatever,” I mumbled as he made his way back down the stairs to leave.

Stupid Jaeger. Stupid animals.

Who decided that it would be okay to allow pets in here in the first place, especially ugly ones like that damn cat. It even looked like a stray and everything. Yeesh. Who would even want to take that thing in.

But on another much less furrier note, tomorrow Sasha was finally going to get her big break in the theatre world and she had gleefully invited everyone to come along and see the show. And it was expensive, mind you, it’s not like we got a discount or anything because of best friend privileges. Especially since it one of those serious theatre shows where all those rich old people go and watch plays with their posh business partners with their £8 glasses of champagne. Hoorah.

Not to mention it was a ‘black tie’ event, meaning that we’d all have to go out of our way to get all dressed up for the occasion.

Well, those of us that _were_ going at least.

Annie (who I’m certain was only invited out the goodness of Sasha’s heart,) said that she couldn’t make it because she still had to figure out her housing arrangements and pick up her motorcycle from the garage she’d been storing it in while she was gone. And Armin said he couldn’t go due to his finals that were literally starting on Tuesday, next week, much to our disappointment.

I didn’t know how Eren really managed to go either since he was clearly still in school too but he’d already assured us that he had all the time in the world to spare until the end of the month so we just took his word for it and left it at that. But the others were all supposedly good to go. It was Sasha’s first legit show so there was definitely no way I would miss it.

“Do you think this tie is too much?” Connie asked, stepping out of his walk-in wardrobe the night of the show, “Or did you like the other one better?”

“They are both okay, man,” I sighed from where I was lounging against the wall over by his bedroom door, “Just hurry up so we can go because I said I’d pick the others up at eight and we’re already running late.”

He frowned and pulled off the black tie around his neck and replaced it with the thinner one he was wearing before I’d arrived. He looked a tad disgruntled but I couldn’t say I didn’t feel the same. It was a lot of effort to put in for just one night.

“This is hard for me,” he huffed, “I’m not like you, I don’t wear suits.”

“Neither do I.”

“Yeah, but you can pull them off.”

I shrugged aimlessly and he eyed the blazer he’d left precariously hanging off his bed and marched over to it to slip it on over his dress shirt before lining himself up in front of the mirror.

“This okay?”

I sighed wearily in response and made my way over to stand beside him, already observing my own reflection doubtfully. I couldn’t disagree with the whole pulling it off thing, I did look pretty damn incredible in a suit and tie.

Still checking out my own appearance I nodded and ran a hand through my already gelled back hair, “You look fine.”

He nudged me in the side with his elbow and snorted in disbelief, “You didn’t even look at me!”

Psshhh.

I turned to face him and rose my brows expectantly, “You look fine. Happy?”

“Yes I am, Mr. Fancypants.”

I scoffed and scratched at my jaw as I turned back to look at my reflection. I was totally born to rock nice suits, how could I help being a little bit arrogant about it? Connie had already made his way over to the door, though he had barely even slipped his phone into his pocket before he was gesturing for me to get a move on.

“It’s too hot to wear a suit in this weather,” Connie complained as he climbed into the passenger seat of my car, “Even at night I can feel myself sweating.”

“It’s fucking July, what else did you expect?” I sighed, putting my key into the ignition, “and it’s not even that bad, you are probably just freaking out too much.”

“It’s still gross and sucky,” he pouted as I pulled out onto the road, “Are theatres always so uptight about their dress code?”

I shrugged, “I guess? I dunno, man. Probably. I mean, they’re full of posh old people, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So unless you’ve discovered a way to age forty years in less than fifteen minutes, I suggest you just stick with what you’re wearing.”

He groaned and rest his head back against his seat and we spent the rest of the drive in comfortable silence.

I didn’t know how the hell I was going to fit five people in my car on the way there so the most I could do right now was cross that bridge when we came to it and hope for the best. I definitely couldn’t imagine Mikasa wanting to take her own car while she was wearing heels, which was a reasonable assumption to say the least.  
Maybe I could just kick Connie out of the passenger seat and put all the shorties at the back? Yeah, that would work.

I parked up on the road in front of her house before Connie and I clambered out of my car and head on over.

Mikasa’s street wasn’t exactly the _safest_ area around and her house was located smack bang in the middle of a rundown estate. Well, if you could count ‘the middle’ as actually being a small flat right underneath another much taller and more viable house, then it definitely was.

I walked around the neighboring home and reached up to unlock the steel gate positioned hazardously at the side before taking my time making my way down the concrete steps. It was an awkward fit in the dark but I felt slightly reassured by the sound of Connie’s light footsteps following behind me as I made my way over to the metal screen door and rang the bell beside it. 

Connie jumped down the last step and hovered cautiously beside me while we waited for someone to answer the door. And by the way he kept jittering and glancing behind him, it was obvious he was pretty unnerved by the clearly unstable surroundings.

I glimpsed up at the broken (smashed) motion sensor outdoor light hanging on the wall above the door, shuddering a bit at its implications, and rang the bell a second time.

There was some shouting from inside and after a couple more minutes the front door opened up and Mikasa’s cousin Levi appeared, looking about as exhausted as ever. He unchained the screen door that was still hooked up in front of us and Connie and I stepped back so that he could open it.

“You can come in,” he mumbled darkly, and moved aside so we could enter. 

I nodded back at him gratefully. It’s not like this place wasn’t spooky enough.

The hallway was almost about as narrow as the staircase outside and I made sure I walked through without bumping into anything in the process.

I’d been here quite a few times before but it wasn’t exactly somewhere I showed up often. However, once I saw Historia peek her tiny head out of the living room I immediately felt relieved. I was glad that she‘d invited us over. Mikasa had the tendency to not want to leave until the very last minute.

Small, blonde, and bossy had obviously been waiting for us because as soon as we made eye contact she started grinning like a Cheshire cat.

The dress she wore was short and black with an additional glittery silver cardigan draped delicately over her shoulders and her long hair was twisted up into a messy topknot that suited her enormously. Though, much to my surprise, she wasn’t wearing her signature pair of combat boots and instead her usual footwear had been replaced by a pair of simple black stilettos, giving her a teensy bit more height than she normally had.

She waved us inside and dusted off my blazer casually before stepping back and putting her hands on her hips with a satisfied smile.

“You boys sure cleaned up nicely.”

“Pshh, don’t chat shit,” Connie grinned back, “Where are your boots tonight, huh? I don‘t think I‘ve ever seen you wearing heels before.”

She pouted, “I had to put them away for the occasion, I still have my piercings in though so- oi, don’t laugh!”

I stopped cackling and held my arms up in defense but she just jumped and sent a couple of good humoured punches to the palms of my hands before settling down again. The atmosphere warmed a little and I was suddenly glad that I was in such good company.

“Mikasa said she wanted to help Eren with his hair,” Historia grinned, bouncing up and down softly on her heels on the hardwood floor, “Apparently it looked _‘absolutely atrocious.’_ ”

“Does it not?” I snorted, earning a playful slap to my shoulder from Historia, “Hey!”

“I helped him dye it!”

“For real?” Connie asked, looking genuinely curious, “You did a pretty good job.”

“Don’t sound so surprised! God!” she exclaimed, folding her arms across her chest haughtily before lowering her voice, “She’s taking a really long time in there…”

“Jean, when do we need to get going by?”

I shrugged, “If we wanna make it there with some time to spare then we should probably be out the door in ten minutes.”

Connie looked panicked.

“I said _‘with time to spare,’_ don’t stress,” I frowned, doing the two buttons up on my blazer, “…Give or take a few minutes.”

“Mikasa!” he called frantically out into the hallway, “Mikasa, it’s almost time!”

I heard her yell back something about needing another five minutes and I sighed. How long does it take to just slip on a dress?

The three of us stood in the small living room waiting and chatting for an entire _eight_ minutes (Connie kept us updated every time he checked his phone) before Mikasa called us to come out into the corridor and I swear to god she looked elegant enough to be a celebrity, fuck it, she could have been mistaken for a royal for all its worth. I was taken aback.

She wore a strapless wine red dress matched with silver open-toed heels and a sparkly gold necklace. It suited her well and I honestly didn’t know why I was so lost for words. Mikasa was always stunning.

One side of her hair was pinned up behind her ear and she slipped her fingers over it to keep it in place before smiling over at us shyly, black clutch bag placed carefully under her arm. 

“Yay or nay?”

“Yay,” the three of us said in awe simultaneously and she did a little cheer.

“Awesome- Eren!?”

I heard him groan stubbornly from inside whatever room he was in but he didn’t come out.

“Eren, come on,” she called back firmly, expression tightening at his pig-headedness, “For godsake you look great! We are already on a tight schedule, just get out here!”

“Fine!”

I snickered quietly at the way he was reprimanded but any insults I had formally reserved for when he showed up got caught in my throat when he suddenly appeared from behind the doorway, looking as sulky as ever.

I saw Historia’s jaw drop from where she was standing beside me and I swallowed loudly.

He looked incredible.

Mikasa had clearly chopped off the green dye in his hair and styled it into a shorter cut that actually suit him fairly well, dare I even say it. His eyeliner had also been toned down considerably, though I could still see dark traces of it on his waterline, and he was wearing a bowtie. Like an actual fucking bowtie. EREN FUCKING JAEGER WAS WEARING AN ACTUAL, REAL LIFE BOWTIE. AND HE LOOKED GOOD IN IT.

“Hey, Jean,” Connie nudged me in the arm with his elbow, “Looks like you might have some competition.”

“Shut it,” I hissed under my breath and he stifled a laugh, “Your tie is hideous.”

He gasped dramatically in mock surprise and I rolled my eyes pointedly. Douche.

Mikasa beamed when Eren finally moved to stand beside her and she clamped her hand down on his shoulder proudly while the rest of us practically marveled at her creation.

“Well,” she smiled appeasingly at us, “What do you think?”

Connie shook his head in disbelief, “Awesome, man.”

Mikasa grinned and danced around a little in her heels until Eren whined loudly and started tugging at his bowtie in frustration.

“These trousers are giving me a wedgie.”

And thus, the magic is gone.

“God, you are so dopey,” I groaned.

“Ughhh!” Mikasa frowned, “Eren don’t mess up your shirt!”

“Oh my lord. Oh. My. Lord,” Historia gasped, finally breaking out of her trance to run up to the pair and staring accusingly at them both, “YOU CUT OFF THE DYE!?”

“IT WAS HER IDEA!”

Eren quickly pointed at Mikasa and she rolled her eyes in response, “Well, sorry for wanting you to actually look presentable!”

“He liked the dye!” Historia exclaimed.

“I liked the dye!”

“The dye was stupid! Your bloody well lucky I cut your damn hair for free, Eren!”

“He would’ve looked fine either way!”

“Oh right, like you can talk-”

“WE HAVE TO GO!” Connie screamed over the top of their yelling, “WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SASHA’S SHOW!”

“He’s right,” Mikasa sighed in frustration, already trying to get her bearings while the rest of us just stood there, “Jean go out and start the car.”

“Fucking finally,” I grumbled, already feeling a little put off by the arguing. We hadn’t even gotten there yet and there was already a unsettlement. If Armin were here he would’ve diffused it a lot faster.

I frowned as I made my way outside. If Armin were here, things would probably be a lot less hectic in general.

I heard Eren and Mikasa shout their goodbyes to Levi, who was who the fuck knows where in the tiny house, and they followed me up the concrete stairs with Connie and Historia back up onto street level. Mikasa chained up the mesh screen door and locked the gate again behind us before making her way over to where we were already stepping into my car.

She climbed into the passenger seat while Eren, Historia, and Connie squashed together in the back.

“Seatbelts on,” she said and the others sighed.

“Seatbelt safety, everyone,” Eren mimicked in a deadpan voice, waggling his finger from side to side and Mikasa reached over from in front to smack his knee playfully.

I got the car into gear and started driving while the others made pleasant conversation all around, mostly about Sasha’s part in the show and what they thought it would be like in the theatre.

“I bet it’s one of those really grand ones, with the gold wallpaper and the big fancy red carpets,” Historia said knowingly, “The ones with dress codes are always like that. They even have those rope barriers. It makes you feel like you are a celebrity.”

I laughed out loud, “You _are_ a celebrity.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Dude, even I forget you are a celebrity though,” Eren added, “You’re so chill like 24/7.”

She hummed approvingly.

“It sucks so bad that Armin couldn’t be here,” Connie suddenly input, leaning forward so he could include Mikasa and I in the conversation, “He probably would have thought all this fancy theatre stuff was cool.”

Eren nodded, “Definitely. He’s probably like shit deep in textbooks right about now though.”

“Can’t he take like at least one break from studying?” I sighed, trying to figure out where I was supposed to turn. Mikasa had google maps open on her phone and she’d been giving me directions for the whole drive, “He probably knows every fucking textbook cover to cover by now.”

“That’s just how he is,” Eren shrugged, “No room for failure.”

“Pshh, that’s bullshit. I took like a gazillion breaks in college and I still passed all my subjects.”

“Barely,” Mikasa mumbled from where she was still staring at her phone and I scoffed.

“I only got two C’s! And they were solid C’s!”

“Out of three exams.”

“It was a fluke,” Connie snickered.

“I am actually smart!” I growled and the four of them laughed, “I’m serious! Connie you can’t fucking say shit-!”

“Hey now,” he grinned, “Let’s not talk about me-”

“Shut up.”

“Aggressive.”

“Cool it, buster,” Historia giggled, leaning forward in her seat to tap me on the shoulder, “Quit it already and tell us how long we’ve got to gooooo. I’m getting restless back here!”

“Like two minutes I think,” I sighed, “Mikasa?”

“We’re not far now.”

“Yaay!” Historia cheered and sat back between the others, “I’m really excited now.”

“Me too,” Eren said. He opened his mouth again to sigh and I immediately knew whatever he was about so say next was bound to be a complaint, “It’s squishy in here.”

My eyes flicked towards the rearview mirror so I could get a glimpse of him, “The A/C is on.”

“Yeah but it’s shitty,” he replied, “I just wanna stretch my legs.”

“Don’t we all.”

“Jean, turn here,” Mikasa said, looking up from her map to point towards the street on the left, “We need to look for a parking spot.”

“Gotcha,” I said as I turned the corner.

We parked as close to the theatre as we possibly could but we still ended up having to walk around the block anyway. It was dark and there were large crowds of people around so the five of us stuck close together in a tight knit group as a precaution. Mikasa threaded her arm through mine and I watched the pavement for any manholes or bumps so she was able to walk in her heels without tripping over anything. Historia and Eren were a teensy bit further ahead, pointing at all the neon lights on the buildings nearby, completely enthralled in our surroundings.

“This isn’t much of a walk, is it?” Connie asked the group from my other side and I shook my head, “Okay cool because we are gonna be late if we don’t hurry up.”

“We’ll get there on time, don’t worry,” I sighed, “We won’t miss her.”

He nodded and didn’t say anything else, seemingly complacent with my answer.

The night was quite serene despite the sounds of the traffic nearby and the rumbling of the crowd in front though, the quiet always seemed to fall over us in stages. Almost as if we were drifting along unperturbed, just falling into step with the other heads amongst the busy city life I was all too familiar with. The walk was longer than I had originally anticipated but surprisingly it didn’t bother me all that much. The darkness was probably just enthusing a bit more life into my body with the way the lights seemed to totally surround us; engulfing us in a strange kind of warmth I had long grown accustomed to. One of which had nothing to do with the summer heat.

I heard Mikasa gasp when we finally got to the theatre front and I shook her arm gently in excitement.

It was magnificent looking - all gold and red with two large open entrances and flashing lights shining brightly above them. There were multiple ushers standing by both doors and we all dug around for our tickets while we waited in the queue together. They told us what route we should take to find the platform for our seats and we stopped in the foyer to collect ourselves for a moment before we did so.

“Told you they would have the rope barriers,” Historia grinned, nudging Eren with her elbow.

“It’s full of old people too,” I whispered to Connie and he snorted into his hand, attracting the attention of an elderly couple who passed by and shot him a look of absolute contempt.

“There are young people too,” Mikasa said pointedly, gesturing towards a woman at the bar sipping on a cocktail, “You just aren’t looking hard enough.”

“Give me a magnifying glass and I will try,” I replied and she rolled her eyes.

“Haha.”

“Wanna go find our seats?” Connie asked, probably still itching to settle down in time, “The play is bound to be starting soon.”

“Good idea,” Eren nodded, “I wanna sit down before all of these people start blocking up all the rows on the platform.”

The feeling was mutual so we all moved on into the seating area to find our section, looking around for a little while until we found it and sat down in our allocated places. Connie was on the very edge and I was seated beside him with Mikasa on my right side. Eren and Historia were beside her and the rest of the places along the row were already filled by strangers. We had bought seats in the front row of the first balcony so we had a good view of the stage and Historia was staring over the barrier, awestruck by how far off the ground we were.

“If you lean over any further you might fall off,” Eren said to her but she just shook her head softly in response.

“I’m a little bit in love with this theatre, to be totally honest,” she lifted her arm and pointed up at the stage lights dangling along the ceiling in an orderly fashion, “This place is crazy cool.”

The rest of us leaned forward to get a better look at the stage too and I had to admit that it was actually pretty amazing. Props were placed towards the back and were arranged neatly across the walls and the ground and the lights currently shining down at centre stage had a refined purple tinge to them. It made me feel sleepy as I settled back into my chair and I saw Mikasa do the same.

We all continued to talk and stare around the place as the lights across the room dimmed and I heard Connie cheer excitedly under his breath. The play began and we all stilled in our seats, listening carefully as music began from the orchestra below and the scene finally opened. Multiple characters entered onstage but I knew we’d have to wait a lot longer for Sasha to appear throughout.

_“Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace-”_

“This really is the serious stuff, huh,” I whispered and Mikasa nodded, “How did Sasha manage to get into a play like this?”

“Beats me,” she shrugged, putting a finger to her lips to shush me.

Connie was also staring down at the stage in wonder, absolutely absorbed in the change of atmosphere.

The play continued like this for a while and though I couldn’t understand most of what was going on, the music was incredible and the acting was pretty decent at least. I felt Connie elbow me hard in the side and I turned to scowl at him. That really hurt.

“This is Sasha’s scene!” he hissed excitedly, “The fairies! Look-”

I watched intently as the two ‘fairies’ currently occupying the stage moved forward and Mikasa squealed quietly when another two people entered from either side of room, one of them a man, wearing a flowery headdress and a crown, and the other-

“Sasha!” I exclaimed quietly among the others.

She wore a large gold-coloured crown and a long layered cloak with flowers stitched into the shoulders. Her dress was pale and long and it trailed softly along the ground as she walked to centre stage. If she were nervous at all, I would never have been able to tell from the way she held herself, she absolutely radiated confidence.

 _“Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania,”_ the man said, voice booming from where he stood, looking around towards the crowd with an air of disdain.

 _“What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence: I have forsworn his bed and company-”_ Sasha replied, turning away from the man with a similar look of contempt.

“She looks so cool, oh my god,” I heard Historia whisper and I refrained from laughing out loud.

Sasha, cool? That was a first.

I nodded in agreement all the same.

When it was time for the interval Eren was the first one to jump out of his seat, urgently declaring that he needed to pee. Mikasa and Historia went with him, leaving me and Connie to talk and check if we’d missed any messages while our phones had been turned off during the first half.

“She was really good,” I said and Connie nodded, eyes lifting from his screen to look back down at the closed curtains that had been drawn across the stage, “it was like watching a completely different person perform.”

“Wasn’t she!?” he grinned, turning back to face me, “I’ve seen her act a bazillion times but seeing her do it in a place like this was like a next level experience. Out of this world, even.”

“Totally, yeah.”

I shivered a little at the cold that had suddenly spread throughout the theatre and looked over the balcony again at the people below. The others returned just a couple of minutes before the second half of the show began and we all watched the rest of the play in silence, paying attention to whenever we thought Sasha’s cues began.

When the show was over we cheered so loudly that I thought my eardrums would actually start to burst, completely ignoring all of the surprised stares we gained from the other people in our row in the process. Sasha grinned at us when it was her turn to bow with the other cast members and it was really obvious she was restraining herself to prevent breaking the formation and waving back at us. Perhaps it was considered unprofessional.

“I bought a program,” Historia grinned as we walked back into the foyer, taking said item out of her bag and passing it to Connie, “I don’t know if Sasha is in it yet but I thought it would be cool to look through anyway.”

We all circled around to flick through it but like Historia said, Sasha’s picture wasn’t in it.

“Next time maybe,” Mikasa hummed, flicking the page closed, “Why don’t we head on out. You guys are going somewhere, right?”

Her eyes flickered over to me and I agreed. The five of us left through the back exit and took a few pictures with each other in front of the theatre before Eren hailed a cab and he and Mikasa said their goodbyes before leaving, ordering us to give Sasha ‘a big hug’ from the both of them.

Historia, Connie, and I walked back to my car still parked around the front and waited there until we got a text from Sasha to drive over to the staff entrance at the other side of the building so we could pick her up. She was already waiting by the road in a grey knitted jumper and sweatpants when I pulled up and I slowed down to open the passenger door for her to hop in.

“Holy fucking shit, that was the most exhausting night of my life!” she exclaimed, tucking the large duffle bag she was holding under her seat as I drove out of the crowded street, “Not to mention my hairtie snapped on the way out, aghhhhh!”

She combed her hands through the long hair splayed messily about her shoulders and sighed, leaning back against her seat so she could make eye contact with Connie and Historia who were listening eagerly in the back.

“So did you guys enjoy the show? Where are Eren and Mikasa?”

“It was soooo awesome! You were incredible!” Connie grinned, leaning forward to wrap his arms around the top of her seat, “Eren and Mikasa caught a cab back home since it was getting late. We thought we could take you somewhere for a celebratory meal.”

“Hell yeah, oh my god!” Sasha cheered, “I am staaarving. Where are we headin’?”

I shrugged, “Wherever you wanna go?”

“Pizza hut!”

Historia laughed and leant forward to talk to her as well, “Well, that didn’t take too long.”

“Performances are taxing,” Sasha groaned, resting her head back on Connie’s arm, “It’s been on my mind all day.”

“Well, you sure have your priorities straight,” I snickered, “Wanna eat in or takeaway?”

“Takeaway!” all three of them squawked in sync and I gestured at Sasha to look through the menus I stored in the glove department so they could figure out what they wanted to get.

After arguing about where we should eat for a good five minutes there was a swift change in conversation when Sasha suddenly announced that she had the perfect destination in mind.

“We should totally stop off at Armin’s house- no Jean, okay don’t give me that look! I’m serious!” she swiveled around in her seat as much as she possibly could with a seatbelt on in order to face us with a mask of determination gracing her features, “Hear me out, okay? He is like the only one out of our best friend clique who didn’t get to come to the show tonight and he is probably having a totally shitty time at home all by himself, so why not?”

“Uh, duh. He might not want visitors round at this fucking random-ass hour,” I replied, obviously bearing the only rational point in this conversation, “It’s like ten o’clock at night and this idea is stupid-”

“We could always do it after we eat,” Historia interrupted, “Like we buy an extra pizza and drop it off on the way home as a _‘it sucks that you couldn’t come today and you probably haven’t eaten in hours, so here’_ gift.”

“Eating in is still an option,” I sighed, glancing back out at the pitch black road.

Blegh.

Sasha whacked me on the shoulder, “No, no, no! You are way too boring sometimes, Jean!”

“Yeah,” Connie snickered, “Spice up your life a little, Jean.”

“My life is already spicy enough as it is, thank you very much,” I replied and Sasha rolled her eyes, “If you wanna drop off a pizza it’s all good but I’m the one paying for petrol here, ya know? I’m not your personal chauffer.”

“Boring.”

“Whatever,” I scoffed, “Someone just hurry up and order already.”

“Sure thing, Mr. grumpygills,” Sasha pouted, finally rummaging inside the duffle bag for her phone, “Hello, yeah can I place an order for pick up pleaaase-”

Shockingly enough, we managed to get through the phone call without any arguments breaking out about pizza toppings and Sasha slyly ordered an extra pizza despite my half assed protests.

“You have no say in this,” she said once we’d finally picked up the pizzas and brought them back to the car, “Everyone deserves to have friendship pizza at least once in their life, Jean.”

“I didn’t even open my mouth,” I replied, reaching over to grab a slice once she’d opened the box but she smacked my hand away.

“Nope.”

“Stop messing around.”

“Pizza is not a joke, Jean.”

“Then give me a slice, you hooligan!” I reached forwards again but she lifted the box up in the air this time and passed it back to Connie, “I don’t know what I did to deserve such treachery. Such scorn!”

“You didn’t do anything, you silly!”

I furrowed my brow, “Then why the hell-”

“I just had a better idea…” she grinned and I heard Historia snort in the backseat at my misfortune, “Why don’t yoooou…” she poked me in the chest, “take this pizza to him instead.”

“What?” I frowned, “Why?”

The three of them started to laugh and I was honest to god so freaking confused about what kind of plan they had even cooked up. Connie surely didn’t know where this idea sprouted from either since he’d been waiting in the car with me while the girls went inside to pay for the food. This had to be a set up.

“Oh you knowww…” Sasha drawled, combing her hands through her hair again.

“No?”

“How oblivious can someone even be?” I heard Historia mumble from the backseat and I glanced between the two of them in confusion, “Yeesh.”

“Can one of you tell me what you are going on about? Please.”

“Let him figure it out himself,” Sasha fake whispered loudly back to Historia, “It’s all part of the fun.”

“Figure out what!?” I scowled, “Stop messing with me!”

“I’m not!” she replied, shoving the slice of pizza Connie handed her into her own mouth, “I’m just making good use of an opportunity- actually you know what? We should vote!”

Definitely a set up.

“All in favour of Jean delivering the pizza?”

All three of them rose there hands and Sasha bit into her own slice again with a telltale expression on her face.

“And all in favour of putting this seemingly ridiculous plan behind us?” she continued, pouting dramatically over at me when I was the only one to raise my hand, “I think the jury has made their decision _very_ clear.”

“How the hell are you not out of energy already?”

“The theatre rejuvenated my health,” she sighed sweetly, placing a hand over her heart, “Now get a move on, driver! We gotta gogogo!”

“I’m going, I’m going,” I grumbled in response before starting the ignition, “And if he roasts my ass about this I’m not driving you three anywhere for a month.”

Sasha grinned, “I’ll take my chances.”

\----------------------------

Little did I know this particular plan persisted on dropping the others home first, not that Sasha’s newfound smugness the whole drive back didn’t give the game away, it was just a lot more taxing. I even had to stop for petrol on the way over, mind you, Historia did give me some money for gas as a ~~apology~~ thank you for being such a good cabbie.

Armin’s house was just as small and tired looking as I had remembered. Even with the significant lack of rain and the now non-existent whirring of the sprinklers in front of the flowerpots planted on the grass out front.

It was silly of me but I might have even felt a few nerves creeping up as I stepped out of my car into the darkness, pizza box in hand, and made my way along the small cobbled path leading to his door. The place looked a little less gloomy now, illuminated by the streetlights towering outside on the street, and I hesitated when I looked up and saw that the light in the window above the flowerpots was in fact on.

I couldn’t help but smile when I finally spotted Armin leaning out of it, arms folded on top of the windowsill as he stared up at the night sky. It was quite a sight to behold.

I had already stopped in my tracks but he still hadn’t seen me. When I listened a little more clearly I could hear the faint hum of music coming from inside his room. Something soft and slow that matched his tranquil expression. Something that made my breathing halt and caused something to stir relentlessly in my gut.

“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks!?” I called up to him and he jumped in surprise, gingerly lifting himself up from where he was resting to look down at me quizzically, “It is the east and Juliet is the sun!”

I bowed theatrically and he laughed that tiny melodic laugh he always did whenever he found something generally amusing. The light from his room behind his small frame made his hair glow in contrast to the dark outside and I felt a little breathless when he settled down and crossed his arms back down on top of the windowsill again, staring sweetly down at me.

“Haha, very funny. Though I’m quite sure that line is not from the play you guys watched, rather, Romeo and Juliet?”

“You got me,” I lifted my free hand up in defense, “So, not romantic?”

“No, not in the slightest,” he shook his head smiling, “What are you even doing here anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be out with the others?”

“Duh,” I tapped the side of my head in mock skepticism, “I came to see you.”

He still looked unconvinced but I couldn’t exactly blame him. I would’ve probably felt the same if our roles were reversed.

“So you’re telling me that you came to see me for absolutely no reason at all, in a suit at-” he looked down at his watch, “-10:55 at night?” 

I smirked back up at him, “I guess so.”

It was rather iconic if I really thought about it.

He leaned forward to hang his head out of the window and narrowed his eyes towards what I was holding, “…With pizza?”

“You’ve got it.”

It was quiet then and he hummed a little to whatever song was playing behind him, still watching me carefully with those wide, owlish eyes of his. His voice was barely a whisper over the thrum of the air outside but I strained to listen anyway, even if it was mostly in vain. He still looked a little sleepy but the smile he wore eased my nerves more quickly than I’d anticipated it would.

“And that pizza is for…?”

“You, obviously,” I teased and he nodded slowly in understanding, “Unless there is someone else you’re not telling me about.”

“I can assure you that there is not,” his lips twisted up into that small, sweet smile again and he rest his elbow on the windowsill and placed his hand underneath his chin, looking curious now, “You still haven’t specified why you are here in the first place.”

That’s right… Why was I here again?

He raised an eyebrow and I swallowed down the lump in my throat. Trying to think of something sensible to say.

“I-I actually just,” Dammit. I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly at the tension, “I wanted to see you and ya know, Sasha kind of forced me to bring you food so…”

“Oh-?”

“Will you like, indulge me or whatever? Just so I can look her in the eye tomorrow and honestly say that I did it.”

“I just might,” he smiled softly and tucked both sides of his wispy blond hair behind his ears, “I know you aren’t here by choice but… I really wanted to see you too - you know, if it helps.”

“It does,” I breathed, feeling my skin heat up when his eyes glittered with something akin to excitement, “Do you wanna come down and p-pick it up or-”

“I have a better idea,” he stood up from his spot behind the window rather cheerily and retreated back into his room, “Wait there!”

I had no clue what he possibly could have been doing for the next five minutes I stood waiting outside for but when his front door opened and a disheveled looking Armin stumbled out with a blanket under one arm, and a bottle of lemonade and two plastic cups in the other I quickly put two and two together.

“You want to have a picnic?” I chuckled and he rolled his eyes and moved past me to spread the blue blanket out on the grass before plopping down on top of it himself.

“Yes, or have you already had something to eat?” he asked and I shook my head, “Brilliant then, sit down. Oh and watch out for the sprinklers! They are kind of super duper broken. Yeah…”

He patted the space on blanket beside him and I sat down beside him carefully, taking it into account to leave considerably enough space between us.

“You haven’t eaten then I take it,” I said as he ripped open the lid of the pizza box and took a massive bite of the first slice he laid hands on.

“No, I’ve been busy,” he chewed, “the most I’ve really had all day was some super gross burnt toast and like three cups of coffee.”

I raised an eyebrow, “I thought you didn’t like coffee.”

“Exams,” he replied before shooting me a pointed look, “They can break a person, Jean.”

“Yeah but you are working like non-stop,” I replied and he shrugged and took another bite of pizza, “Aren’t you like fatigued or whatever? I mean, you didn’t even come to Sasha’s show or anything. Even Eren showed up and he has finals too, right so-?”

“I- well, truthfully, Jean,” he sighed and ran his fingers through his already mussed up fringe, “I couldn’t afford to pay for a ticket.” 

“You should have said something, I could’ve-”

“Eren and Mikasa have already offered to help but obviously I’m not going to accept their money, I mean-”

I shook my head incredulously, “I’m sure Historia could have done something, Sasha even! You should have told me- I-”

“-Don’t worry about it,” he cut me off, “Seriously. It’s fine. I don’t want to always be the burden of the group, I don’t need special treatment, okay?”

I frowned, “We’re your friends. It’s not special treatment.”

“Mm,” he picked up another slice of pizza but changed the topic of conversation when I opened my mouth to say something else, “How was the show anyway?”

“It was good,” I replied uncertainly and he nodded, urging me to continue, “Kinda long but it was worth seeing Sasha act. Eren and Mikasa skedaddled straight after we left though so they didn’t get to see her but I think she just wanted to go home and rest up anyway. She looked pretty exhausted when we picked her up.”

“Well, that’s understandable,” he replied, fingers tracing the edge of the blanket vacantly, “It’s a big part to play.”

“Oh, hell yeah,” I agreed, “She was totally in the zone on stage. So much so that I almost forgot it was her! We all sat on these cool balcony seats too so we were looking down at the stage but we were front row so we could still see pretty clearly.”

He smiled again, “That does sound awesome! I bet seeing the theatre at night was like a dream!”

His lip twitched a little but I was probably just over thinking his reactions at this point. Connie had said earlier that Armin would have loved all this theatre stuff and it turned out he wasn’t wrong.

I felt myself smile a little at the image of Armin staring up at the flashing lights in awe, marveling over the red and the gold themed décor and all of the fundamentally placed props.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked in all seriousness and I nudged his leg with my knee playfully.

“Your pajamas,” I grinned, “What else?”

He pouted and glanced down at his sheep printed pajama pants and the grey hoodie he had probably just pulled over his t-shirt on the way out of the house.

“This is Eren’s,” he pointed at the hoodie, “and the sheep are cute, leave me alone.”

“Well, sorry I didn’t mean to offend the sheep,” I snickered and he raised an eyebrow skeptically, “Eren, however…”

“Oh, you are too hard on him! He told me just yesterday you had him come over and remove a cat from your flat!”

“That cat is sent straight from hell, I tell you!”

“Really?” he looked doubtful.

“Yes! It follows me literally everywhere, Armin! One time it even crept behind me all the way to the bus stop-”

He scoffed, “Rubbish.”

“It’s true!” I exclaimed, waving my hands around to emphasize my point, “I don’t even know where the damn thing came from, it just started showing up last month out of the blue.”

“Is it a stray?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“No idea, probably. I didn’t check for a collar or anything, I just made Eren get rid of it.”

“Animal hater,” he whispered jokingly behind his hand and I scowled.

“I’m not an animal hater!”

\----------------------------

Maybe I was an animal hater. Even if it was only just a little bit.

“You again,” I scowled down at the cat and waved my leg around beside it to shoo it off as I stepped outside of my flat, closing the door behind me cautiously, “Stop following me.”

The cat just let out that intolerable shriek that always made me think that somebody in the next room was being strangled and I sighed exasperatedly.

“Go away.”

Is this what cats are always like? Because this was starting to become a humongous pain in my behind.

I shooed at it again but it didn’t budge. Not even a fucking inch.

“Ugh! Beat it already, dammit!”

I was not cut out for being followed around by an animal 24/7, I swear to god. I was not even animal person! I had no idea why it hadn’t gone away by now. Was I not mean enough anymore? Did my face not scream ‘angry, supermarket employee’ hard enough?”

“It’s like 7am and I am tired,” I grumbled, rubbing a hand down my face as if it would do something to get me back to full alertness, “Please, please, please, leave me alone. I need to go to work.”

I did up the top button on my uniform collar and moved off towards the staircase with stalker cat in tow. Maybe it would leave me alone when I left the building. Some days when the weather was particularly bad it would just trail back inside. Even in summer, Trost mostly tended to get the bad side of the weather.

Unfortunately, it was a beautiful day so the damned thing followed me outside and I screamed internally.

Maybe my shoes smelled like catnip or something.

I went down the last few steps leading out and made my way towards the parking lot as irritably as one could possibly be at this point. The cat let out that insufferable shriek again and I jolted in surprise, nearly dropping my car keys in the process. I knocked into someone else as I was rounding the corner and the cat let out another squawking noise but this time it was supposedly loud enough to make me fall down flat onto my ass.

Fucking demon cat.

“Elsie! There you are!”

Fucking demon humans.

It was way too early for this shit.

I shook my head in disbelief from where I was still sitting on the ground. Of course out of all the people I could possibly bump into, it had to be the owner of this damn cat. Just my luck.

I considered running my mouth like I proposed I would to Eren earlier on this week but immediately eliminated that thought from my mind when I analyzed the body of the man standing in front of me. I barely even had to glimpse at him to know the guy was muscular, not nearly as well built as Reiner but enough to know that he could probably kick my ass if he wanted to.

He had a firm grip on the lit cigarette between his fingers and I almost gagged in disgust at the smell of smoke now infiltrating my nostrils.

“Elsie?” I finally got out, still a bit disorientated from my fall. Oh yeah, don’t offer to help me up, that’s okay, I’m fine. Asshole.

The man ducked down, fumbling with the cigarette in his hand to pet said nuisance before continuing.

“My cat, she keeps on wandering off. I’m sorry, are you alri-” he stopped midway through his sentence, seemingly surprised by something.

I finally glanced up to get a look at the douchebag who’s cat didn’t seem to understand personal boundaries but my words got caught somewhere in my throat when I recognised the shocked, familiar face staring back at me.

“Marco?”

“Jean?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispers* It is time.


	12. Extreme Makeover: Person Edition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Say hello to the brand new Marco Bodt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOO GUYSSSS SO I JUST PASSED THE 100K WORDS MARK SO I GUESS THAT CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION AMIRITE???
> 
> I just wanna say a big thank you to those reading and a big sorry for making you wait so long for a chapter like this. I've had big ideas and big plans (just a whole lot of BIG in general) for the next chapter so I'm kind of super excited for it. Let's see if you guys can guess what it'll be about...

_What?_

“What-?” I spat, still trying to figure out what the actual fuck was going on right now. This had to be a dream or like, a practical joke or something at least. There was absolutely no way this was happening in real life, “-What are you doing here?”

“I live here…” Marco replied slowly, offering out a hand to help me up but I immediately recoiled and brushed it off to stand up on my own accord, “What are _you_ doing here?”

The tone of his voice had changed slightly and I didn’t know exactly what to make of it. He pronounced his words the way someone upper-class normally would and I immediately felt a sting of distaste build up at the back of my throat. Even his appearance had changed drastically.

“ _I_ live here,” I snapped bitterly back, “Moved in last year a matter of fact.”

“Really now?” he sounded genuinely interested and I refrained from screaming as loudly as I possibly could. Now was seriously not the time to have a total freakout.

“Yes.”

The last time I had seen Marco he looked like a completely different person entirely. All the baby fat in his once chubbier physique had been built into solid muscle and his hair had been cropped short in exchange for the dark fringe that used to cover his thick black eyebrows almost completely. His acne had cleared up entirely and his freckled face was practically sculpted (probably by whatever god took pity on him after puberty)and like, supermodel extreme. The most noticeable change however, was the long scar that now adorned the right side of his face, starting from his eyebrow and ending just above the sharp curve of his jaw.

He was going on about something else now but I wasn’t listening, opting to scowl at his much too handsome face in disgust.

This totally wasn’t fair.

He grinned and the scar stretched across his cheek simultaneously, “-Hey, speaking of which! How are the conman and potato girl doing? Are you still in contact with them or-?”

“Yes. We’ve moved past those nicknames now,” I frowned. 

“Oh right, right! Wow, it sure feels like forever, huh?”

It sounded forced, him saying those words with that kind of voice.

Asshole. What right did he have to show up all willy-nilly out of fucking nowhere like this in front of my, let me rephrase this actually, _MY_ block of flats? Acting like he knows me? Chatting to me as if we were friends!? Lord, it was all too much!

He lifted his cigarette carefully back up to his lips again but that just made me furrow my brows even harder. He was nattering on about something else now, geez. Did this guy know how to just shut up and take a breather? He talks way too much.

And when did he take up smoking anyway?

Is he better looking than me?

_No, nah. Totally not._

I reanalyzed his face again, still feeling as if I were going to throw up on the spot. 

He definitely was.

How did he become better looking than me?

 _When_ did he become better looking than me!?

“You’re not that hot,” I said unintentionally out of spite, only to feel another sharp jab at my pride when he lowered his cigarette in confusion and didn‘t retaliate.

He definitely was gonna sock me one now, he had to. I was being an asshole but the dickbag deserved it after disappearing for all this time like he was some sort of new age explorer that couldn’t even tell his buddies what he’d been up to. Acting all high and mighty with his brand new posh accent and designer trench coat. It was pathetic.

“I’m…sorry?” he squinted at me but I just glared back at him in response, “Uh. I don’t think I heard what you-?”

“Forget it,” I grumbled, “I have to go.”

The cat, Elsie, shrieked again and I felt myself jolt for probably the millionth time at the shrill sound. I glanced away uncomfortably and Marco started rambling on about something else I obviously didn’t care about.

“Really!? Oh, that’s such a shame! We should catch up sometime, with Connie and Sasha too-”

Stop being so freaking polite, holy fucking shit. Kind words just sounded so _not_ right coming out of his mouth. It felt almost unreal.

“Sure, right,” I shook my head dismissively before shifting my gaze back towards the carpark that was looking a lot like the perfect safe haven right about now, “Yeah. I have to get to work so…”

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed, sheepishly pulling his cigarette away from his lips, “Was I keeping you-!?”

Yes.

“Don’t worry about it,” I mumbled in response, barging past him once he’d finally paused to take a breath.

I’d barely made it past the gate before he was calling out to me again and I cringed inwardly at his eagerness to chat, or well, just him in general, really. He was kind of weirding me out.

“Well- I’ll see you later then!”

I didn’t reply and instead opted to let my hands roam around inside my pocket as I (quickly) walked away, pressing the calloused tips of my fingers into the sharp end of my keys as I head towards my car in the parking lot.

What a fucking tool.

I can’t believe that actually just freaking happened.

“It was so weird, Sash,” I mumbled into my hands later that day, “He was so _polite_. I don’t think he swore even once when we were talking and he was smoking a cigarette and I just, I just- BAAH! It was all just way too freaky.”

I had called an ‘emergency meeting’ at my flat as soon as I’d arrived home from work and had made a huge point of avoiding Marco and his stalker cat, Elsie, on the way in. Sasha and Connie had practically sprinted over from where they had been hanging out in the local park and were now both sprawled out on my couch while I opted to sit curled up on the carpet in front of them, head in my hands and praying that I had just imagined the whole exchange.

I mean, that was plausible. Right?

I’d seen him in the morning before I went to work and I was probably super tired and grumpy as shit so that could totally be classed as my imagination playing tricks on me, the only real flaw to this theory was that the fucking screechy cat was there too. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. There was no way I could have dreamt up the shriek that had emanated from that animal.

“That doesn’t sound like the Marco I remember at all,” Sasha frowned, popping a cookie into her mouth from the packet sitting in her lap, “You sure this was the same guy?”

“Positive,” I replied, “I mean, he knew about your old nicknames and me, and he… I dunno man, yeah it was him. For certain. At first I couldn’t be sure with his appearance but-”

“Why?” Connie asked, clutching a carpet pattern couch cushion to his chest, “What else could possibly be different about him?”

Psh. What wasn’t, now that I really thought about it?

“Well, his face - it’s all tanned, and chiseled, and annoying, and super handsome and he has like, this long scar,” I gestured towards the right side of my face and drew the slash across my cheek with my finger from memory, “I don’t know where it’s from, obviously, but it was super weird and - and oh my god he sounded so upper-class! I nearly forgot. That’s why I didn’t recognise his voice when he bumped into me!”

“No way… Do you think it was _‘the accident,’_ ” Sasha’s thin eyebrows shot up underneath her fringe.

Connie scoffed, “You are totally making all of this up.”

“I’m not!” I exclaimed, “Cross my heart, swear to die.”

Sasha leaned to side to whisper audibly to Connie, “That sounds pretty serious to me, man.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Can we meet him!? You said he lives here, right?” she grinned, stuffing another cookie into her mouth whole, “I’m sooooo so super curious!”

“Yeah man, for real,” Connie mumbled before turning around to press his face into the armrest, “I wanna know what he looks like now.”

“Me too! And heck, we’ll even give him a good ol’ interrogation for ya!”

“We can rough him up a bit. Maybe knock his ego down a few sizes if we‘re lucky.”

“Pow pow,” Sasha whispered, throwing a couple of air punches in for good measure before settling down again.

I rolled my eyes and ran my fingers aimlessly over the carpet, “Well, that would be all fine and dandy but I literally have no idea what his flat number is and I don’t really wanna go around knocking on everybody’s door, ya feel?”

“We could stake him out?” Sasha suggested and I shook my head.

“Too soon. But hey-! Oh my god, I just remembered now,” I pulled my phone out of my pocket, “Reiner gave me Marco’s new number.”

“Holy shit! Yes!” Sasha put her biscuits aside and slipped onto the floor beside me so she could peer down at my phone, “Ring it! Ring it!”

“But if I call he might know it’s me! Reiner might have given him my number too!”

“Uh, duhh. Isn’t that point- look ugh, fine,” she pulled out her own iPhone and opened up her contact list to key his number in, “You won’t regret this, Jeannyboy.”

“What you’re going to do it now?” Connie asked, lifting his head off of the armrest so he could peer suspiciously down at us from where he was now lying on the couch.

“Yup,” she hit the call button and immediately pressed speakerphone, “We can just ask him if he wants to pop up and say hello and interrogate him then.”

It wasn’t the best plan I must admit, but I went along with it anyway. If Sasha wanted to embarrass herself at her own accord that was completely fine by me.

All three of us waiting in silence as the phone rang and I sucked in my breath dramatically when it clicked at the other end and we heard his voice.

_“Hello?”_

‘Posh,’ Connie mouthed at me and I grinned in acknowledgement.

“Hey, Marco!” Sasha pressed her index finger to her lips in a shushing gesture and put the phone down on the floor so we could all hear the conversation clearly, “This is Sasha! Sasha Braus! We went to school together a few years back!”

_“Oh, woah hey! Sasha! Gosh, what a pleasant surprise!”_

I made a fake gagging sound and she clamped her cookie crumb covered hand over my mouth.

“It sure is! I just got your number from Jean and I’m actually up in his flat with Connie right now - you know Connie - and I was wondering if you’d like to come over so we could say hi! Or maybe if it’s convenient we could even come to you!”

Smooth.

 _“Yes um, yeah sure!”_ he paused for a second and I raised a brow at the silence but Sasha didn’t seem fazed in the slightest, _“Well, if Jean is alright with it of course. I didn’t think he would- you know, after I saw him this morning I assumed- You know what? I’ll just head on over. What flat number are you?”_

“3B,” Sasha grinned and Connie reached over to give her a quiet high five from where he was listening in, body about a quarter off of the side of the couch at this point, “I’ll see you in a few?”

_“Sure will!”_

“Uh-” she shrugged and pulled a face at us, “Bye!”

_“Goodbye!”_

I reached forward to hang up the call and she sighed and fell back onto the carpet theatrically. Connie didn’t say anything and instead opted to drop his face back into the pillow he was leaning on over the armrest.

“He speaks nice,” Sasha hummed.

“Watch out, Connie,” I whispered loudly in hopes of provoking a reaction and he bolted upright in his seat to throw a pillow at us.

“His voice is meh,” he grumbled, “Nothing special. Just posh.”

“Oh, don’t be a big baby,” Sasha snickered, “It’s just sorta surprising, that‘s all. He was a bit overly polite though, I must admit, that part was shocking.”

“It was _very_ overly polite,” I corrected, slipping my own phone back into my pocket and she did the same with hers, “Once you see him you’ll understand what I’m talking about anyway so just back me up, alright?”

“Alright. Gotcha.”

We waited for a little while in silence, listening out for the inevitable knock on the door should be coming any minute now. We wondered aloud some more and speculated about the supposedly ‘new’ Marco and what we would say to him when we finally confronted him face to face after all this time of not speaking. Connie looked a little on edge about meeting him now but Sasha was still bouncing around at the prospect of seeing him again.

Wasn’t this supposed to be an interrogation meeting? I didn’t understand what was so exciting about that.

When the knock finally came the three of us froze before bolting off towards the door in unison. I got there first and stood in front of it to block the way before folding my arms across my chest and casting them a look that was supposed to be stern.

“This guy isn’t our friend anymore,” I reminded them when I caught Connie eyeing the door handle eagerly, “He is here so we can confront him and that’s that, okay?”

They both nodded quickly and I shooed them back a little to create some space. Geez, what was he going to think if he saw the two of them hovering behind me like a couple of puppies waiting to be fed.

“Back up a little,” I hissed and they both ran back over to the couch and sat down, eyes still drilling holes into the door despite my poor attempts to drive them away.

I sighed and opened up, eyes narrowing at the sight of the ‘new’ Marco Bodt standing outside with a baking tin in his perfectly annoying hands.

“I brought brownies,” he smiled and I refrained from shutting the door right back in his face even though my first idea was to slam it.

“Come on in,” I responded through gritted teeth, taking the tin from him without a thank you and stepping aside so that he could enter.

I caught Sasha eyeing the food almost straight away and I instantly knew that this plan was gonna fucking fall through at this rate.

 _‘Eyes away, Eyes away!’_ I mouthed aggressively at her from where I was standing out of Marco’s line of sight and she looked away apologetically before Connie tugged her up from the couch to say hello.

“Sasha! Gosh, it’s been forever!” Marco exclaimed, quickly reminding me of the way my aunts and other older members of my extended family always greeted me at those awful get together type things. It was cringey and awkward for me to watch but I felt grateful when Sasha didn’t hug him in response like she normally would have, “You look so grown up! And hey, your hair isn’t turquoise anymore!”

She laughed a little uncomfortably but replied anyhow, “Nope. I decided to go back to my roots in the end, haha…more manageable, you know…”

She ran her fingers through her ponytail a little self consciously and I caught Connie glaring daggers up at him now from where he was still standing beside her. I couldn’t say I didn’t feel the same way either at this point.

“Well, it suits you - and it got so long too! Wow!” he gestured towards her ponytail with a grin and she blushed profusely, “It’s great to see you again.”

“T-thank you… You uh, you too.”

“And Connie! You haven’t changed a bit!”

“So I’ve been told,” Connie replied a little unsurely but politely all the same, “You, on the other hand, have changed _a lot._ ”

Oh yeah, we’ve totally got this. Interrogation 101. 

I gave Connie a small thumbs up and he gave me a subtle nod in return.

“Well, I guess I should have really seen that one coming, huh?” he sighed, still smiling softly as he bashfully stared down at his feet, “Things are going good now, there was a lot of stuff that needed to be sorted out so I thought it was time for a bit of change.”

Sasha _‘aww’d’_ softly and I sighed inwardly. It had been like two seconds and she was already giving in.

“What kind of change? A change of pace maybe?” I butt in, placing the baking tin on the counter in the kitchen before making my way over to stand between her and Connie, “A change in appearance? A change in personality?”

“Well, you know I-”

“A change of perspective?”

“ _Jean,_ ” Sasha hissed.

“I-uh, I don‘t know what you mean-!”

I ignored them both, “Or hey, maybe that wasn’t enough to amend all of your shitty lifestyle choices. Maybe you just had to come here and invade my space too.”

Marco’s face blanched beneath the dusting of freckles over his cheeks and his voice fell short almost immediately. I felt a little proud at the reaction I had evoked, “I didn’t know you even lived here, I-”

“Oh, right! No problemo. You know what, while we’re at it,” I gestured behind me sarcastically, “Why not take my flat too!?”

Marco looked like he was completely lost for words. Which was probably a first within the short amount of time we had spoken to each other today.

Get angry already. Come on. I know you want to douchebag, so just do it.

“Jean,” Sasha hissed again into my ear from where she was standing, “What the hell? You’re supposed to hear him out before you switch on your asshole tendencies.”

“Since when are you so sensitive to other people’s feelings!?” I spat back even though I didn’t really mean it. It came out a lot harsher than it was supposed to and I saw her glare harden in response.

“Maybe we should all sit down,” Connie suggested and I rolled my eyes.

And him. The peacekeeper!? Seriously!? This was supposed to be a confrontation!

Fucking traitors.

“I’m fine standing,” I grumbled and Marco’s eyes widened in what was clearly panic.

This whole situation was utterly hopeless, when the hell did Marco turn into such a wet blanket!? Two years ago he would have tried to fight me on the spot for speaking to him in such a provocative manner, fucking hell, even Eren would have made at least some kind of jab in response!

“What?” I snarled, “You got nothing to say now?” 

He shook his head meekly and Sasha punched me in the shoulder. Hard.

“What the hell is your problem!?” she exclaimed, folding her arms crossly across her chest, “You’re acting like an A-class jerk.”

“He is the jerk! Him!” I jabbed Marco in the chest and Connie grabbed Sasha to pull her aside from where we were standing, “Brand new face? Brand spanking new personality, bullshit! He’s just the same as he always was! And even if he isn’t I’m not going to just forgive him for being awful like he was back then too!”

Silence fell quickly over the group after that and I finally realized just how heavily I was breathing.

Marco had a bitter expression on his face now but he still didn’t retaliate, much to my disappoint. Instead he just turned towards Sasha and Connie and told them, with a voice that sounded a lot calmer than he looked, that “It was a pleasure to see them again and that he hoped they could catch up another time when things had _‘cooled down,’_ ” then left immediately after. 

That bad taste from earlier this morning started to resurface again in my throat and it made me want to be sick.

“What the hell was that bullshit!?” I turned to Sasha and Connie who both wore unreadable expressions, “I thought you guys were on my side!”

“We would have been if you weren’t such a god damn, jealous asshole most of the time!” Sasha bit back and put her hands on her hips, “You were mean to us too!”

“I’m not jealous! We barely know him now!”

“At least give him a chance to explain himself then!”

I scowled and chewed on my lower lip in thought. Suddenly ashamed of the way I had overreacted. It was true he hadn’t been able to explain himself but what difference did that make to all the stuff he had done before. Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed him so much but it was practically impossible for me not to be bitter about it.

“I’m sorry but he-” I sighed, “That guy can’t be who he’s making himself out to be. I just thought you were gonna back me up like you said before. We can‘t forgive him yet.”

She lowered her arms and slipped her hands into the pockets of her pastel purple hoodie, suddenly looking rather sulky, “But he brought us brownies…”

“With no weed,” Connie mumbled from where he was now inspecting the dish, “That _is_ weird.”

The comment broke the tension and a bubble of laughter made it’s way past my lips at his easygoingness. Sasha smiled too and I finally dropped my angry expression.

“Sorry, for real,” I shook my head, “I am mean, you’re right, Sash. I just really care about you guys and… I kind of thought you were on my team, ya know?”

“We are…Ohhhh…” her face fell and she ran back over to where I was standing and pulled me into a hug, “I’m sorry, Jean. He’s just really, really nice.”

“And his smile is super dreamy!” Connie added jokingly before he flopping back down on the couch.

“I know you still think it’s fake but people can change, Jean,” Sasha mumbled into my shirt, “I mean, at first it was as weird as you said it was but he seems pretty genuine now. He even brought us weed-less brownies and that’s a pretty big deal in my books.”

“That guy has an ulterior motive, Sash,” I replied, putting my hands on her shoulders firmly to gain her attention, “He’s too nice and something about that isn’t right.”

Connie scoffed and threw another pillow at my head, “What? You think he changed his approach and moved all the way back here just to spite you? Come off it, you arrogant twat.”

“Hey, I didn’t say that,” I groaned, letting go of Sasha so I could rub my already tired eyes, “It was just a possibility-”

“Well, don’t you think that sounds a little silly?”

“Maybe but-”

“Don’t think too much about it, alright?” he slid down in his seat and went back to lying on his stomach, “If this is how he wants to behave then we should start afresh.”

“New beginnings!” Sasha nodded excitedly and I rolled my eyes but agreed nevertheless.

“Fine. New beginnings.”

“Awesome! But Jean…” 

She tugged at the bottom of my shirt childishly and I sighed, “Yes?”

“Would it still count as betrayal if I ate a couple of the brownies?”

“Yes. Those are still betrayal brownies.”

Sasha howled and fell to the floor dramatically in response to whine about how she was ‘starving’ and that I was ‘the cruelest person on the planet’ and Connie burst out laughing.

Well, no surprises there.

 

\----------------------------

“Wow, he sounds like a huuuuge douche,” Eren stated over a large forkful of banana cake and Armin frowned in disgust after getting a wide view of the food inside his best friend’s open mouth.

The two of them had been attached by the hip since finals were over and wherever Armin went, Eren went also. Regardless of _where_ they were going. They were obviously making up for lost time but it was still a huge pain in the ass.

I had initially only asked Armin if he’d wanted to meet up and have coffee so that I could explain the whole Marco situation and ask for his opinion but of course that hadn’t exactly gone to plan when he’d hesitantly asked if it were okay that Eren joined us. Which obviously it wasn’t but from the sound of it Eren already knew about our location and would be coming no matter what dismissive, negative thing I said in response.

Now the three of us were sitting on the downstairs level of a Starbucks in town and I had absolutely no choice but to bring up what was bothering me so much to the both of them.

“I know right,” I huffed before taking another sad sip of my coffee, “And Sasha and Connie totally fell for it, straight off the bat!”

“No way,” Eren replied, shoving some more cake into his mouth.

“Yes way. Now they are just acting all chummy with each other like they are the best of friends.”

“I would totally kick his ass, man,” he made a chopping motion with his hand and Armin shot him a dirty look over his cup from where he was sipping at his own small hot chocolate, “You said he was a total delinquent before, right? So it should be no problem!”

“Nothing fucking provokes that guy now, I’m telling you! It‘s literally impossible!”

“What? Even after you riled him up like that? Bruuh…”

Armin placed his hands on the table and looked between the both of us sternly, “I don’t think trying to fight him is exactly the right approach.”

“Well, what else is he supposed to do!?” Eren exclaimed, finally putting his fork down to address the other, “That guy is totally up to something!”

“We don’t even know him, Eren.”

“We don’t have to know him, Armin! He sounds totally shady!”

I nodded in agreement and Armin rolled his eyes.

“Why not try to get to know him first?”

Eren scoffed loudly.

“I’m serious! He could actually be really nice - Jean, didn’t you say that Sasha and Connie get along with him?”

“Well, yeah,” I grumbled, “They all go out to clubs and the cinema and just do other crappy shit like that all the time.”

It had only been a month since they had ‘re-befriended’ Marco again and it was the absolute worst torture even imaginable. Not only did the three of them spend time together 24/7, it was like I didn’t even exist anymore.

Not that I’d want to hang out with the stupid ‘new’ Marco in the first place. What, with his much too nice personality and his crappy, so-called ‘supermodel smile,’ as Sasha had noted innocently. It was all way too much to handle! He had barely even been here that long and I had already had it up to here with Mr. ‘I help old people cross the street and rescue stray animals on the side of the road without a second thought’ good-Samaritan, with his perfect hair, and his perfect chin, and his perfect niceness. Ugh! What was he a saint!? It was infuriating!

And to make matters worse, Connie, and Sasha, and everyone else on the entire fucking planet was practically drooling over him!

What the hell happened to the Marco who was always picking fights with the older kids in town? The one that used to burp Destiny’s Child songs from memory alone and wore ugly matching video game tees with me at school? Because this was definitely not the same person I remembered being my best friend all the way back then. 

“If you really don’t like him then there’s not a lot you can do,” Armin sighed and took another sip of his hot chocolate, “The only thing I can really suggest is befriending him again like Connie and Sasha did.”

“Yes, but that’s exactly the problem!”

“Befriending him?”

“No! Connie and Sasha!”

“Kicking his ass is still an option,” Eren mumbled around his fork and Armin shot him another exasperated look, “What? Don’t glare at me like that! He stole his friends! It’s aloud!”

“No it’s not, Eren! Look, Jean,” Armin directed his gaze towards me and folded his arms on top of the table knowingly, “This Marco guy is not stealing your friends, alright? He has probably just showed up and got Connie and Sasha all overexcited so now they want spend some time with him! Together, I may add. If you want to join them then all you have to do is stay open minded about this whole thing and ask!”

I shook my head stubbornly, “I don’t want to join them. I just want Connie and Sasha to realise what a superficial prat he is!”

“Kick his ass!”

“No, Eren!” Armin picked up his drink again, “And bloody hell, Jean. Be rational about this. They are clearly friends again so they’ll just have to make up their minds about him on their own.”

I frowned, “And if they don’t?”

“Then you deal with it. Simple as that.”

Easier said than done, I thought to myself later on in the day when I got a text from Connie to cancel tomorrows plans.

He was only cancelling on me to go hang out with stupid Marco again, that was probably it. _Definitely_ it. There was no way it would be anything else because Connie is almost _never_ busy during weekdays because his work hours start really late and was I over thinking this? I was definitely over thinking this. People were beginning to tell me I was starting to look more pained than usual more often than not the next few days and I probably even snapped at Marlo a lot more than I usually did at work a couple of weeks later.

Not that he didn’t deserve it, because he totally did. It was just that this whole situation was starting to affect my work flow and having that bowl-cut Eren replica breathing down my neck all the time was literally killing every brain cell I had spared from seeing and communicating with the real thing.

Marlo swore I was looking older and older every time I showed up to the supermarket and I snapped at him instantaneously, obviously not tired enough to put up with today’s idiotic observation.

“What’s your problem?” he asked dejectedly when I went straight back to stocking shelves a short moment later, “Did you argue with your girlfriend again or something?”

“No, fuck off,” I replied, averting my gaze back to the box of animal crackers I was holding.

“Rude.”

“It’s personal.”

“Personal?”

I rolled my eyes, “Family stuff.”

“Family stuff?” he leered over at me from behind the food cart and I nodded silently in response, “Didn’t know you still lived with your family.”

“I don’t.”

He raised his pointed brows in confusion and I decided to elaborate.

“Well, they aren’t exactly my family but it feels like they are,” I shrugged aimlessly, “I would consider them that much at least. Can’t say they feel the same way about me though.”

Marlo seemed to take pity on me then, because he removed himself behind the cart and came over to stand beside me, handing me another box to put on the shelf.

“That blows,” he said and I shrugged a little sadly.

“Sure does.”

“And these people,” he waved his hand in the air dismissively, “They don’t know how you feel?”

“Nope,” I hopped up onto the small yellow stool between us and slipped the box onto the highest shelf, “Well, I dunno but lately I’ve kinda been having doubts. I mean, this guy we knew a couple of years back just showed up again and they seem to wanna hang out with him now.”

“And not you?”

“Yeah, exactly,” I huffed before shaking my head. My eyes felt a little watery now so I turned away from him to wipe at them discreetly, “It’s stupid. Forget it.”

“You should tell them how you feel.”

I whipped around to stare at him he shrugged and pulled a face.

“No one likes being replaced,” he said, “Especially by family.”

I frowned, “Yeah, ‘guess not.”

“Well, with that being said,” he turned and walked back over to the food cart, “Get back to work or I’ll tell the manager you were slacking off again!”

“Jesus fucking Christ! Okay!” I held my hands up in defense and he shot me an irritated look over his shoulder, “I’m working, I’m working…” 

_Geeeez,_ well that little heart to heart was pretty short lived.

Not that I expected much from Marlo anyway but this situation was dire and I had no one else to call for an emergency meeting! Mikasa would just say the same thing as Armin, and Historia would just say the same thing as Eren and there was probably no way around this other than talking to Connie and Sasha about it. Plus, this was going to be even more of a problem if it wasn’t sorted out before Historia’s upcoming beach house trip that was going to happen in-

I checked my phone calendar.

-two weeks!

“Am I being too irrational about this?” I mumbled to Elsie who was perched beside me on top of the small wall in front of the entrance to my block of flats, “Did he really just drop everything and change just like that?”

The cat just shrieked in response and I sighed.

I was so lonely that I had resorted to talking to animals. Who would’ve thought?

“Am I going crazy?”

Elsie shrieked again.

“I’m going to take that as a yes.”

I looked up at the sky and Elsie tapped my hand with her paw. Today was warm and the sun shone brightly down at where I was sitting. It was weird, the weather was finally start to clear up but here I was, feeling absolutely miserable.

“I really badly want to make up with my friends but I don’t think they even know that there’s a problem in the first place.”

Another shriek.

“Maybe I really am over thinking things…”

And another.

“Is it stupid of me to feel this way?”

The cat was silent so I didn’t say anything else after that. Was it really that easy for someone to just swoop in and overshadow you entirely? It seemed that way at least.

I didn’t want to make up with Marco. I knew at least that much.

He hadn’t done anything that deserved my forgiveness so until he did I would probably have just do what Armin said and deal with it. Even if it meant I had to talk cats and be miserable for (most possibly) the rest of my life before any of that happened.

I can’t believe I lost two of my best friends to some insufferable wanker in just over a month.

Maybe that was his plan after all. Good one.

I jumped down from the wall and Elsie hopped down with me to follow as I made my way inside my block of flats, glaring at Marco’s front door as I passed it by.

\----------------------------

I didn’t talk to Sasha and Connie until a week before the beach house trip and fortunately, Marco wasn’t with them this time.

Things had been rather hectic recently with all the preparation and Eren had even dragged me down to the mall to help him stock up on summer clothes while they were on sale. Armin and Mikasa had already refused to take part in his ‘small fashion refresher,’ according to him, so apparently the only other person who was suited to be his guinea pig for the day was me (and my car). His new wardrobe mostly consisted of denim shorts and corny tees with equally as trashy logos on them but I did my best not to question it. Sasha and Connie on the other hand, were a little more curious about all the bags I was forced to lug around after we bumped into the two of them in the mall parking lot while we were making our way towards the frozen yoghurt place that Eren never seemed to shut up about. Sasha seemed excited to see us.

“Funny seeing you two out together for once,” she snickered and I frowned in response as she continued eye the bags I was holding a little hopefully, “I hope we aren’t interrupting anything.” 

I shrugged, “Not really. It’s just Eren.”

“Oh yeah, geez,” Eren scowled and continued to wipe gently at his eyes to remove any smudges of eyeliner that had melted away because of the heat, “You don’t beat around the bush do you. You guys out shopping too?”

“Hell yeah,” Connie grinned, “We were just stocking up on beach gear for the trip!”

Eren looked pleasantly surprised at this and pulled off the bag hanging from the tips of my fingers to show them, “Us too!”

“Clothes count as beach gear?” I raised an eyebrow and Eren huffed and opened it up to wave around a pair of flip flops.

“What? Do you expect me just to run around naked the whole time?”

“I wouldn’t put it past you.”

“Guys no flirting, this is a public domain,” Connie cackled and Sasha joined in wholeheartedly, “There are children here.”

“Pfft, yeah. You two,” I scoffed, “We were just gonna go get some frozen yogurt before all of Eren’s makeup melts off, wanna join us?”

“Oooo, don’t tempt me,” Sasha sighed, running her fingers along her braided ponytail gently, “We can’t. We were gonna go meet with Marco over at the plaza and-”

“Forget it then,” I said bitterly back, mood turning immediately sour at the sharp pang in my chest, “Have fun with your friend.”

Eren’s eyes flashed between the two of us and he folded his arms across his chest in a way I would have thought was sulky if he hadn’t clenched his fists the way he did in that moment.

“I don’t understand what all the hype about this Marco guy is,” he said more firmly than I had heard him speak in a while, “I mean, Jean is your best friend and you aren’t even going to invite him to come along with you? I think that’s sort of rude.”

Sasha blinked owlishly back at him in shock and I wouldn’t be surprised if I were wearing the exact same expression.

Eren of all people was standing up for me?

“Like, I know he’s out with me but you didn’t even offer to like you normally would,” he continued, “Why would you hang out with someone so casually if it means excluding someone close to you. I don’t get it.”

He fiddled with the piercing in his cheek as if he were still trying to make sense of it all and even I didn’t know what to say at this point. I could feel my face heating up at the prospect of confronting my own best friends, especially knowing that someone as idiotic and oblivious as Eren had done it for me. Luckily, Connie broke the tension.

“If you felt that way, Jean, how come you didn’t say anything?”

“What the hell do you expect me to say? I‘m a grown ass man,” I responded, feeling a little peeved now, “Who you guys hang out with is your decision.”

“But we didn’t mean to exclude you,” Sasha added, looking very disgruntled now herself, “If Marco has done anything to make you feel bad or upset or-”

“Marco hasn’t done anything,” I interrupted, shaking my head to glance down at the multiple shopping bags still balanced precariously along both of my arms, “We haven’t even spoken since that time he came up to my flat. I guess he’s really changed, huh. Like for real.”

She nodded carefully and reached out to pat my arm sympathetically. Her hands were cold and comforting despite the heat and the humid temperature still hanging in the air of the carpark like an oven.

“You’re like a sister to me,” I said and she nodded her head again as if she understood, “I’m really sorry, I should’ve taken your word for it.”

“No,” Connie chewed his lip, “We’re sorry. We should have been more understanding towards the situation.”

“Yeah, you should have,” I chuckled, lips tightening when I felt the pull of a smile threatening to break out on my face after keeping my thoughts self contained for so long, “I would totally hug you guys right now if I weren’t carrying all of these bags, you know?”

“We know.”

“Good,” I huffed, smiling for real this time, “Now go enjoy your stupid day trip with Marco.”

“You don’t wanna come with?” Sasha asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

“Nah, I’m good. I still have to treat Eren to frozen yoghurt, remember?”

Eren’s cheeks tinged pink and the sour look on his face turned into one of curiosity, “For real?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, “For real.”

“O-okay,” he scratched the side of his face in confusion at my sudden niceness and Connie burst out laughing and grabbed Sasha’s hand with the one that wasn’t holding up shopping.

“See you soon then,” he grinned before sidestepping us and heading the direction of the bus station with Sasha in tow, “Try not to have too much fun without us!”

“I’m sure we won’t!” I yelled back and he laughed again, Sasha sending a small wave over her shoulder.

Eren waved back enthusiastically and grabbed a couple of the bags dangling from my wrist off of me to slip them onto his own. I was still slightly unnerved at the way he was so quick to come to my aid about the whole Marco situation but I supposed that was just in his nature. Eren was prone to surprise me often but maybe I’d underestimated just how loyal he was after nearly eight years of being friends on and off.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he mumbled, “You look gross wearing that expression.”

I rolled my eyes and nudged him to start walking again, “Shut the fuck up. You’re one to talk with the way that eyeliner is still dripping down your face.”

“Is it!?” he exclaimed, reaching up to rub at the space just above his cheeks again and I snickered.

“I’m messing with ya.”

“Not funny.”

“It kinda is.”

“Uhh, it’s kinda not.”

“Tell me this then,” I said and his eyes flickered over to me in interest, “Why the hell did you stick up for me like that?”

“Like what?”

“With Connie and Sasha, doofus.”

He shrugged and bit his lip, “I dunno… I thought it was rude and it just seemed like you weren’t going to say anything.”

I shook my head incredulously, “Then thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

We were silent after that but instead of being as awkward as it normally was, it was comfortable for a change. Out of all the people that had my back, Eren was the one who’d told them exactly what I was thinking. My mind drifted back to that time Mikasa and I went on that stupid date to chipotle and I raked over what she had said to me about him that day. About how Eren and I were alike and about how he also tended to _‘dote on people’_ a lot of the time.

Looks like she wasn’t wrong about that after all. It was an admirable quality but I still couldn’t help but think it suit Eren a lot more than it suit me. Maybe that’s why she and Armin always saw so much good in him all of the time.

“You are doing that same face from before.”

“Shut up and let me think then,” I replied and he huffed crossly.

Yeah. Eren Jaeger surely wasn’t the same person he was all that time ago when he’d dunked that cake over my head.

And if he wasn’t then maybe- just _maybe,_ Marco wasn’t so far off after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eren to the rescue!


End file.
